Opalised

Here is a piece of petrified wood. For this process to occur, the plant material, in this case a tree, lies in an oxygen free environment (underground). This means that it doesn't go through the normal decay process, but replaces all the organic material with minerals, essentially creating stone. In this particular case some of the wood has been replaced with opal, creating the most amazing and beautiful effect. I did spent quite a bit of time checking out different angles of this specimen. So many colours!