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Petrified Forest Research Paper

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The Petrified Forest was founded on December 9, 1962, and is one of the many national forests in the United States of America. Located in Petrified Forest, Arizona, hundreds of people visit the park every year to witness the rainbow rocks and to view the many petrified logs. These logs are scattered all across the park and range from 60 to 125 feet long (World Book Encyclopedia, 1997). Along the logs are thousands of different species of plants and animals. Travelers will experience the many different geographic features and seasons of the park. The Petrified Forest has a vast variety of amazing geographic features including the Chinle Formations; colorful badland's hills with flat-topped mesas, and sculpted buttes. The blue flat-topped mesas …show more content…

Minerals such as silica were dissolved from volcanic ash into the wood. Then crystallized the cellular structures of the logs and became large jewel-like crystals (Nationalparkservice.gov, 2017). In the Petrified Forest, there are over hundreds of species that occupy the massive landscape. People will be able to experience tremendous sized trees that's roots can split boulders and mountains to scavenge for nutrients. These trees are located on mesa tops and around the park. The most distinct tree of all are the pinon pines that can produce protein packed nuts that the native people used as their essential dose of protein. One pound of a pinon pine nuts can be scaled up to 3,000 calories. Mammals in the park include all different types bats, mice, rats, and many more (Nationalparkservice.gov, 2017). Probably the most fascinating mammal is the pronghorn due to its miniature horns, small tails, and elk like shape. These animals produce milk for their offspring and can find shelter in many different locations around the park. Reptiles are one of the highly dense species due to the large amounts of snakes, lizards, and …show more content…

When visiting the Petrified Forest you will experience a vast variety of different climates and weather. Depending on the summer or winter the climate changes in many different ways throughout all the different seasons. In the summer people can experience scorching temperatures from 91°F to 52°F with extreme weather such as blinding sandstorms, thunderheads with rain and lightning, roaring thunder and even hail. People will experience 49°F to 21°F with conditions of snow and rain with intense 40 to 60 miles per hour winds (Usclimatedata.com, 2017). Since located only fifty miles from the Mexican border the climate can be extremely warm, but also because of the elevation of 5,340ft to 6,230ft people will experience cold temperatures with rain and even snow (Americansouthwest.net, 2017). The Petrified Forest is one of the greatest national forest in the United States because of its enormous rainbow mesa tops and extravagant petrified wood. Thousands of people visit the forest every year to experience everything the park has to

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