Large Madagascan Petrified Poducarpus Wood Sphere - 86mm, 855g

Locality – Mahajanga, Madagascar
Size – 86mm
Weight – 855g

This petrified poducarpus wood sphere features vivid, clay red and earthy brown tones in exquisite and well-preserved wood grain patterns. It is a sizeable piece that has been polished and shaped to perfection, making for a unique and colourful display piece. An intricate rosewood stand as shown will be supplied with this sphere.

Petrified wood – also known as fossil wood - is the preserved remains of ancient trees, transformed into stone through by the process of permineralization. It begins to form when plant material is buried by sediment and protected from decay by oxygen and organisms. Then, groundwater rich in dissolved solids flows through the sediment replacing the original plant material with silica, calcite, pyrite or another inorganic material such as opal. This results in a beautiful and unique combination of perfectly preserved wood structure with vivid mineral colouration, suitable for both fossil and mineral collections. The most famous location worldwide for fossilized wood is the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, US, where thousands of perfectly preserved trees from 225 million years ago lay protected in an area of 600 square kilometres.