How Does Wood Become Petrified? Before petrification can begin, there usually has to be plenty of wood near a water source.

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The Geology
of
of
Mississippi
2
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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3rd Step to Petrification

• Wood is saturated with water

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• 4th 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 its 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

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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 Mississippis 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