Three Methods To Make Rapid Petrified Wood

Three Methods To Make Rapid Petrified Wood

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, February 6, 2026 (Donate)

Introduction

I was taught that it takes millions of years to form petrified wood. Consider this quote from a geology website:

“The petrification process can take millions of years to complete. During this time, the minerals slowly replace the organic matter in the wood, cell by cell. The result is a rock-hard replica of the original tree.”[1]

Has anyone ever observed this alleged process over millions of years? No! This is pure speculation and arbitrary at best. I like to ask, “what experiments have been run that verify it takes millions of years to form petrified wood?” Again, there are none.  

On the flip side, did you know that we can make petrified wood quickly! It doesn’t long ages, but can be made in weeks to months.

Three methods of rapid formation of petrified wood; Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

Some petrified wood is being manufactured for home products (e.g., flooring) and can be ordered through local home goods stores. Let’s look at a three of these methods of rapid petrified wood formation—some of which have been known for some time but others have been explored in more detail in recent decades. But first, what is petrified wood?

What Is Petrified Wood?

Petrified wood is wood that has been preserved by mineralization. The original organic material is replaced by minerals—partially or completely—while retaining the original cellular structure of the wood. This is not to be confused with coalified wood—which is a different process of converting wood to coal, which can be made quickly as well.

Chunks of coal; photo by Bodie Hodge

This petrifying process occurs when wood is rapidly buried or submerged [to seal out oxygen and prevent rapid decay and degradation of the wood’s fine details] in mineral-rich water. This allows dissolved minerals such as silica, calcite, or iron compounds to replace the pore spaces and cell walls. As the organic material decays or is removed by water transport, minerals precipitate in its place, forming a stone-like replica of the original wood.

Petrified wood; Photo by Bodie Hodge

Petrified wood is therefore not simply wood turned to stone, but a detailed mineral “cast” that preserves growth rings, vessels, and microscopic anatomy. The resulting fossil can be as structurally detailed as modern wood, yet composed entirely or largely of inorganic mineral matter. Of course, it is much heavier than the original wood, being that is now rock.

Method 1: Silicification By Silica-Rich Fluids[2]

This first method utilizes wood that has been mineralized rapidly through silicification by silica-rich fluids (SiO₂—think of “quartz”), particularly in hydrothermal or volcanic settings. The point here is that heat is involved to speed the process of converting the wood material to minerals.

Western Illinois silica geode; Photo by Bodie Hodge

When wood is buried or submerged in water that is chock full of dissolved silica, then the silica replaces cell walls and pore spaces while the organic material simultaneously decays or it removed. The heightened temperature and alkaline pH quickly increase silica solubility and reaction rates. So, the silica precipitates quickly as amorphous silica and then later recrystallizing into microcrystalline quartz. Don’t let the fancy terminology scare you. It simply means the process goes fast—very fast.

Laboratory experiments and field studies of hot spring environments show that cellular-scale replication of wood anatomy can occur on timescales of months to years, preserving microscopic structure before mechanical collapse. So actual scientific studies show this doesn’t require millions of years, but can be done quickly. This process does not require long, slow periods of diffusion over millions of years but instead depends on early, rapid mineral infiltration after burial.

This is exactly the type of conditions we expected at certain phases and places from the global Flood of Noah’s Day. Most of the petrified wood we find in the world today is associated with Flood rock and with volcanic layers—showing the heat was present to rapid formation of petrified wood. During the Flood, there was immense volcanic activity—especially when considering continental shifting and mountain building phases (e.g., Genesis 8:4-5; Psalm 104:8-9).

Second Method: Carbonate Permineralization[3]

Wood can also be mineralized rapidly through carbonate replacement which is also called permineralization. A carbonate material basically has a “CO₃” attached to it. It involves minerals such as calcite (CaCO₃), dolomite (CaMg(CO₃)₂)—which has calcium and magnesium, or siderite (FeCO₃) which has iron. The carbonate materials are the mineral that make the wood into stone instead of silica (SiO₂) from the last method.

With this process, it occurs in carbonate-rich waters, especially in anoxic (i.e., oxygen is kept out) or microbially active environments such as swamps, deltas, or shallow marine sediments. Then the dissolved calcium, magnesium, or iron precipitate within wood tissues. This process of carbonate precipitation is very fast under alkaline conditions and can occur before the wood collapses or fully decomposes.

Scientists have learned from experimental studies that carbonate mineralization of plant material can occur in months to years, producing rigid, stone-like replicas of wood structure. This mechanism is well documented in coal measures and flood deposits. Interestingly, unlike the last method, this one does not require high temperatures or silica-rich fluids. Again, these are the types of processes that were expected at certain phases and places during Noah’s Flood.

Third Method: Microbially Mineralization[4]

A third rapid pathway is microbially mediated mineralization, in which bacteria play a direct role in fossilization. Think of them like a catalysts that speeds up the process.

Microbial biofilms colonize buried or submerged wood and alter local chemical conditions—by basically putting a boundary around it. These changed chemical conditions could include pH, redox state, and ion concentration.

These “micro-environments” act as sites for mineral precipitation, speeding up the deposition of silica (SiO₂), carbonates (CO₃), iron minerals, or phosphates directly onto cell walls. Lab experiments revealed that microbial involvement can speed mineralization by orders of magnitude compared to abiotic processes (i.e., processes that are only physical/chemical without biological help).

The result—the mineral replication of biological tissues occurring in weeks to months. This mechanism explains the exceptional preservation of fine cellular detail observed in many fossil woods and plant remains. Again, these are the conditions that are expected during the year long Flood of Noah’s day.

Conclusion

Although many are taught that it takes long ages of millions of years to form petrified wood, this is simply not the case. There are multiple methods that can do it weeks, months, or at most a couple of years.

As mentioned, one of these processes is used to make petrified wood home goods if you want a beautiful and unique flooring in your home (though it does have its costs!). So these three methods have been known for a while and its time to start spreading the word about the rapid formation of petrified from a scientific perspective.

Recommended Resource:

A Flood of Evidence (by Ken Ham and Bodie Hodge)

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children.

Mr. Hodge earned a Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC). Then he taught at SIUC for a couple of years as a Visiting Instructor teaching all levels of undergraduate engineering and running a materials lab and a CAD lab. He did research on advanced ceramic materials to develop a new method of production of titanium diboride with a grant from Lockheed Martin. He worked as a Test Engineer for Caterpillar, Inc., prior to entering full-time ministry.

His love of science was coupled with a love of history, philosophy, and theology. For about one year of his life, Bodie was editing and updating a theological, historical, and scientific dictionary/encyclopedia for AI use and training. Mr. Hodge has over 25 years of experience in writing, speaking and researching in these fields.

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[1] Petrified Wood Forest: What It Is and How It Forms, Geology IN,  https://www.geologyin.com/2023/09/petrified-wood-forest-what-it-is-and.html.

[2] See: Leo, R. F., and E. S. Barghoorn. 1976. Silicification of wood. Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University 25 (1): 1–47; Channing, A., and D. Edwards. 2009. Experimental taphonomy: silicification of plants in Yellowstone hot-spring environments. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 100 (3–4): 219–246;

Mustoe, G. E. 2017. Non-silicified fossil woods of the Pacific Northwest. Geosciences 7 (4): 111.

[3] Berner, R. A. 1968. Calcium carbonate concretions formed by the decomposition of organic matter. Science 159 (3819): 195–197; Coleman, M. L. 1993. Microbial processes: controls on the shape and composition of carbonate concretions. Marine Geology 113 (1–2): 127–140; Allison, P. A., and D. E. G. Briggs. 1991. Taphonomy of nonmineralized tissues. In Taphonomy: Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record, edited by P. A. Allison and D. E. G. Briggs, 25–70. New York: Plenum Press.

[4] See: Konhauser, K. O., J. R. Ferris, and T. J. Beveridge. 2004. Mineralization by bacteria in natural environments: implications for fossil preservation. Geobiology 2 (1): 1–17; Dupraz, C., R. P. Reid, O. Braissant, A. W. Decho, R. S. Norman, and P. T. Visscher. 2009. Processes of carbonate precipitation in modern microbial mats. Earth-Science Reviews 96 (3): 141–162; Iniesto, M., J. Lopez-Garcia, and C. Martin-Closas. 2015. Experimental fossilization of plants: decay versus mineralization in controlled microbial environments. Palaios 30 (4): 286–299.