Buried Treasure

This stunning book documents a collection of 66 extraordinary pieces of petrified wood, mainly from Western United States (Arizona, Oregon, Washington). Specially photographed they are shown in their entirety and in magnificent details.

Petrified wood is formed from fallen trees that in the absence of oxygen and microbes, and with water containing minerals, through a replacement process called permineralization, slowly transform into visually spectacular fossils. But Nature often uses a paintbrush in its preservation magic, splashing the wooden canvas with an array of colours and hues before fixing it in a matrix of hard durable quartz, thereby creating splendid works of art.

Petrified wood has been found throughout the world, but actual petrified forests are truly noteworthy in the United States, the most famous being the Chinle Formation forest of Arizona.

About the Author

Ernest Beck is an award-winning professional writer and editorial consultant. A former Wall Street Journal staff reporter, he focuses on the intersection of design and business, innovation, and public policy.

George E. Harlow, a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College in 1971, received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1977. He is currently the Curator of Minerals and Gems in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History. Trained as a geologist specialising in mineralogy and crystallography,