{"product_id":"petrified-wood-freeform-b-natural-madagascar","title":"Petrified wood freeform (B) — natural, Madagascar","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eA polished freeform cut from a fossil log, from a tree that grew on ground that was not an island yet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eWhen this tree was standing, Madagascar was not separate from anything. It sat locked inside Gondwana, pressed against what is now east Africa, and would not begin pulling away for tens of millions of years after this trunk fell. Everything Madagascar is now known for, the lemurs and the baobabs and the long list of species found nowhere else on Earth, follows from an isolation that had not started yet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThe wood is silica now. Groundwater carrying dissolved quartz worked through the buried trunk and replaced the tissue cell by cell, keeping the grain and the growth rings in place while the organic material went. The colours are from what that water was carrying, mostly iron and manganese.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eCut as a freeform rather than sliced flat, so the grain runs across curved faces instead of sitting on one plane.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMineral:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eSilicified wood, quartz and chalcedony (SiO₂) replacing the original tissue\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCrystal system:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eTrigonal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOrigin:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eAmbilobe area, northern Madagascar                                                                      \u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eTriassic, roughly 200 to 250 million years\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHardness:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale; hard and durable, though the polish will dull if it is knocked about\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTreatment:\u003c\/strong\u003e None\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9.35 x 8.27 x 22 cm\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeight:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2.76 kg\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eYou will receive the exact piece photographed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Crystal Showroom","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58430880383320,"sku":null,"price":170.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0778\/4880\/5720\/files\/pwff-b-1.jpg?v=1788976437","url":"https:\/\/thecrystalshowroom.com\/products\/petrified-wood-freeform-b-natural-madagascar","provider":"The Crystal Showroom","version":"1.0","type":"link"}