Not wood but stone - a petrified forest

Today I visited a petrified forest in Santa Cruz, Argentina. These are trees that were collapsed by volcanic eruption and covered in volcanic ash, creating an aneorobic environment. Over some 150 million years the structure of the wood has been replaced by silicon from the ash. Truly remarkable, some of the trees (araucarias) today are huge and have maintained all the appearance of wood. It was a bit off the beaten track, but well worth the visit.