"Dinosaur Rock" at Petrified Forest National Park

The Earth Science Picture of the Day is what the photographer is calling "Dinosaur Rock" in Petrified Forest National Park (aka Battleship Rock). I will agree that to make this a dinosaur you need to right angle and lighting. I'll admit I'll never look at this outcrop the same again.

BTW... the name Battleship Rock stems from the petrified logs sticking out of the side of the butte that are reminiscent of cannon on a ship.

I'm glad Mr. Lachman enjoyed the park and featured it in his picture of the day.

Petrified Forest National Park Landmarks - Herbert Gregory's "Stump"

The USGS Geologist Herbert E. Gregory formally named and described the Chinle Formation in detail in a 1917 publication titled "Geology of the Navojo Country".  Plate X, figure B of this publication is a photo of a "petrified tree" from Lithodendron Wash, an area which in 1931 would become part of the then Petrified Forest National Monument.  Although later determined by park naturalists not to represent a true standing tree, it was deposited in this position after some transport distance, this specimen looks exactly the same today.  It is in the Black Forest Bed, a prominent tuffaceous sandstone in the Petrified Forest Member of the Chinle Formation and located in a large accumulation of logs called the Black Forest in the Painted Desert portion of the park.  Below is a scan Gregory's published photo as well as a photo of the same specimen taken in 2010.  It is fortunate that Gregory recorded much of his work and travels with photographs.  They provide an excellent account of the geology and people of the Colorado Plateau in the early 20th century.

(From Gregory 1917)

REFERENCE

Gregory, H. E. 1917. Geology of Navajo Country. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 93, p. 161.

Petrified Forest Landmarks - Eagle Nest Rock

For the first 35 years of its existence as a National Monument, one of the major attractions of the Petrified Forest was Eagle Nest Rock in Jasper Forest. As seen below in an undated National Park Service photo. Eagle Nest Rock was a erosional pillar of sandstone in the Jasper Forest bed of the Sonsela Member (Chinle Formation).

The photo [NPS] below is a closer view, showing how remarkable (and delicate) this feature was. It stood about 15 feet (5 meters) tall.

A gravel road detoured off of the main park road and wound its way through the Jasper Forest (numerous petrified logs) turned to the southwest and at its terminus curved around Eagle Nest Rock.

This was a very popular attraction and visitors (and park rangers) would climb up and have their photo taken next to the pillar. The photo [courtesy of the UCMP]. below was taken of Clyde Polacca (of the Hopi Reservation) in 1923 by Charles L. Camp during his paleontological research of the Petrified Forest area

Sadly Eagle Nest Rock "landmark in the First Forest, fell January 25 and 26 [1941] following a month of considerable rain and some high winds.” - Howard R. Stagner, monthly naturalist report.

The old Jasper Forest road was closed afterwards to protect fossil resources (petrified wood) and now only an overlook exists from which you cannot see the Eagle Nest Rock site. The old road was never removed and you can still follow it today. Below is a reshoot of Camp's photo from 2006.