How Does Wood Become Petrified? Before petrification can begin
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Transcript How Does Wood Become Petrified? Before petrification can begin
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Introduction to Mississippi
Named after the Mississippi River
Located in the southeastern part of the U.S.
Bordered by Tennessee (N), Alabama (E),
Mississippi River (W), and Gulf of Mexico (S)
32nd largest state (47,695 square miles)
Highest Elevation- Woodall Mountain, 806 ft
Lowest Elevation- Coast, sea level
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Fossils of Mississippi
Zygorhiza kochii (Prehistoric Whale)–
Mississippi State Fossil
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Fossils of Mississippi
Myliobatis (Eagle Rays)
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Fossils of Mississippi
Basilosaurus cetoides (Prehistoric Whale)
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Fossils of Mississippi
Carcharodon auriculatus (giant shark)
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Fossils of Mississippi
Mastodon (Wooly Mammoth)
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Mississippi State Stone
Petrified Wood
Best known site is the
Mississippi Petrified
Forest, in Flora
Mississippi
The Mississippi
Petrified Forest is the
only Petrified Forest in
the eastern United
States
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How Does Wood Become
Petrified?
Need
plenty of wood near a water source
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2nd Step to Petrification
Trees
must be knocked over near water
source. Most of the time this is caused by a
volcanic eruption
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rd
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Wood
Step to Petrification
is saturated with water
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th
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Step to Petrification
Wood
is buried by mud, silt or ash
This fairly rapid burial allows the process of
permineralization to begin
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Permineralization Begins
Minerals
and elements enter the wood from
water and fill in the "pores". This is what causes
the wood to become petrified. When all the
pores of the wood have been filled, the color
can change.
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Petrified Wood is Exposed
The
wood begins to be exposed on the surface
due to weathering (rain). Because the "pores"
of the wood have been filled with minerals, it
has become resistant to weathering and rotting,
allowing it to stand on the surface virtually
undisturbed.
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Wood is Exposed on the Surface
Now
it is considered a fossil and a rock,
because of it’s mineralized state.
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Landforms of Mississippi
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2 Main Land Regions in Mississippi
Mississippi Valley Alluvial Plain
Coastal Plain
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Mississippi Valley Alluvial Plain
Known as the Delta
Covers the entire
western edge of MS
Enriched with silt
deposits from the
Mississippi River
floods
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Coastal Plain
Extends
over all the State east of the Delta
Composed mainly of low, rolling forested
hills, prairies and lowlands
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Loess Hills
Composed of windblown
deposits of clay sized
material
Loess can be seen in
Vicksburg along I-20
Many fossils can be
found in these deposits
Loess cliffs can maintain
vertical cliffs unlike most
other sediment.
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Tennessee River Hills
Located in the northeast part of the state
Foothills of the Appalachian Mountains
Highest point in Mississippi located here (Woodall
Mountain 806 feet)
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Pine Hills
Often
called Piney Woods
Located in the southeastern part of the
state
Clarkco
State Park
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Black Belt or Backland Prairies
Called
this because their soils are largely
black in color.
Long narrow prairie lies in the northeast
section of the state
Black belt run through 11 counties
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Flatlands (Coastal Areas)
Along the Mississippi Sound
The coast line (beaches)
Barrier Islands
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Mississippi River
Longest
River in North America (2,350
miles long)
Mississippi-Missouri River is the 4th
longest in the world
River basin, or watershed, is the third
largest in the world
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Drainage Basin for 31 states and 2
Canadian provinces
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Mississippi River is Divided into 2
Parts
Headwaters / Upper
Mississippi River
Lower Mississippi
River
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Mississippi River
Meandering River System
Floodplain
Cut Bank
Point Bar
Main
Channel
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Mississippi Geology
Geology becomes
progressively younger
moving from East to
West across state and
into Delta region
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Mississippi Geology
Continental Glaciation approximately 10,000
years ago during the Pleistocene has shaped
most of Mississippi’s physical terrain as we know
it today
Glaciers during the Pleistocene created and shaped
the whole upper part of the Mississippi River!
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Mississippi River
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Mississippi River
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Mississippi River
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Jackson Volcano
Extinct
volcano
2,900 Feet Below Jackson
Peak of volcano is below the coliseum off
I-55
No other capital city or major population
center is located above an extinct volcano
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The End
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