Sunday, May 17, 2015

Petrified Wood I Found

One day my family and I went to Pennsylvania. We went to a creek named Kishacoquillas Creek (known by the local folks as "Kish" creek) and went swimming. My dad said "Come over here I found something." So I went over there. He found a piece of petrified wood. It is only about 1 inch tall and across. When I got home I cleaned it with water and took a look at it. It actually was a piece of petrified wood.
Kishacoquillas Creek


Small piece of petrified wood found near Kish Creek

Also another time I was in Pennsylvania, we climbed a mountain called Jacks mountain.  Jacks Mountain is a geological wonder, well known for containing fossils, especially brachipods and other marine fossils and petrified wood.  Mountains in Pennsylvania are made of many layers of rock - the fossils on Jack's Mountain are found in the top sandstone layer





Jack's Mountain in Central Pennsylvania



We climbed up the mountain by following a trail known as the 1000 steps.  When we got to the top we also found a bigger piece of petrified wood - even larger than the one pictured below.  I did not bring that one back because it was far too big, about 150 pounds.

Jacks Mountain is filled with petrified wood.  Some of the steps are made of huge chunks of the fossils.  Early  20th Century mining unearthed the fossils.   We saw large pieces on the climb up to the top of the mountain. I was able to find a size of petrified wood that could be carried and I brought it home with me.

Overall Jacks Mountain is a great place to find fossils.



This is the 1000 steps



This is the big piece of petrified wood I found




This is a huge piece on the mountain trail.


Tuesday, May 5, 2015

The Terror Bird

Phorusrahac also known as the terror bird. This creature lived 2 to 6 billion years ago. It was 1 to 3 meters tall. The giant bird was  carnivores  and ate small mammals. The way the bird would kill its prey is by first bitting it then it would shake the life out of the animal.

                                           
         This is a picture of a terror bird. You can see why it is called a terror bird.

                                                       This is a terror bird fossil.