Liz with Scale Tree (Genus Lepidodendron) roots in the stone |
Fossil Plants.
Hard to believe when looking around town, but back before dinosaurs, the area around Las Vegas once supported a forest of tall trees. The forest is long gone, but some of the logs were preserved as petrified wood. The best place to see petrified wood around Las Vegas is Valley of Fire State Park, but petrified wood can also be found at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area below the sandstone cliffs. Petrified wood can be found on BLM land where collecting a small amount for personal use is legal, but don't even think of collecting in conservation areas or state parks.
Scale Trees (Genus Lepidodendron) grew in this area during the Carboniferous Period (about 360-300 million-years-ago, and in at least one place, the roots of these 100-ft tall trees can be seen in the rocks.
Fossilized roots can be found sticking out of mudstone and sandstone in Gold Butte National Monument. |