Why can China produce a large number of wood fossils?

Wood fossils are fossils formed after the secondary xylem of plants is replaced by minerals such as silica, calcite, dolomite, apatite or pyrite. According to mineral composition, wood fossils can be divided into timely wood fossils, chalcedony wood fossils and opal wood fossils. Wood fossils are often concentrated, with strong ornamental value and high scientific research value. Over the years, they have been important candidate specimens for collection and decoration in many large museums, and they are also popular folk collections in the strange stone market. Some in-situ buried forest wood fossils are also used and developed as tourism resources (Figure 2-9).

Figure 2-9 Wood Fossil Forest in Shenzhen Paleontology Museum Park (Photo/Yin Chao)

China is rich in wood fossil resources, mainly formed in Jurassic and Cretaceous, and most provinces in China have wood fossils. At present, there are five national geoparks with the theme of wood fossils, namely Yanqing Silicified Wood National Geopark in Beijing, Xinchang Silicified Wood National Geopark in Zhejiang, Qitai Silicified Wood-Dinosaur National Geopark in Xinjiang, Shehong Silicified Wood National Geopark in Sichuan and Qijiang Wood Fossil-Dinosaur National Geopark in Chongqing.

The excavation of a large number of Mesozoic wood fossils in China shows that most of China's territory was covered by forests at that time. After Mesozoic, except the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its surrounding areas, China's overall tectonic environment is relatively stable, which is conducive to the preservation of a large number of wood fossils. So there are a lot of wood fossil resources today. Wood fossils with huge specimens and large output have been listed as key protected fossils in the National Classification Standard of Paleontological Fossils.