came in waves several million years apart. Massive volcanic eruptions perhaps released carbon dioxide and sea bottom methane deposits — causing global warming and changes in the chemistry of the ocean. Creatures with shells and simple circulatory systems fared worse than creatures that didn’t need to glean calcium from the water. Asteroid impacts may have contributed. So perhaps did changes in global climate due to the shift of all the land masses to the equator, which changed global currents in both the ocean and the atmosphere. Some experts point to tantalizing evidence of a strange proliferation of certain types of fungus. Many suspect a piling on of changes until whole interconnected ecosystems collapsed. In any case, that extinction nearly wiped clean life’s slate. So few creatures survived the disaster that it created a 30-million-year-long gap in coal deposits worldwide. However, that great dying also prepared the way for the evolution of the plants and animals whose fossilized remains are laid bare at the Petrified Forest today. Here, ruled 40-foot-long crocodile-like Phytosaurs, gobbling up both fish and creatures as they stopped at the shore for a drink. They preyed sometimes on 15-foot-long, plant-eating reptiles called aetosaurs, with their tiny heads, pig-like snouts and great, armored spikes. Sometimes, they also snapped up 9-foot-long therapsids, reptiles with almost mammalian cheek bones, canines, pelvises and spines. Sometimes, those lurking phytosaurs no doubt nibbled on dragonflies and other insects the size of small dogs — the biggest insects in the history of the planet. Of course, the phytosaurs, which comprise the most common fossilized bones in the park, had to compete with other predators. The 20-foot-long rauisuchians were the top land-based killers, quick, bent-over predators with massive skulls, three-inch-long serrated teeth, long forearms and terrible appetites. But other creatures lurked in the shadows and waited their chance — including the first dinosaurs, small, quick, bipedal predators about 8 feet long weighing a slight 50 pounds. They lived on scraps then, but their descendants would survive the next mass extinction and rule the world for more than 150 million years. Of course, their turn came as well — perhaps heralded by the devastating impact of a giant asteroid some 60 million years ago. And just as the dinosaurs rushed into the gap left by the extinction of the archosaurs, therapsids, rauisuchians and phytosaurs, so we mammals crept out of the shadow of the vanished dinosaurs. Ironically enough, at just about the moment an asteroid splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico to draw a curtain of dust and fire down on the dinosaurs, a shift in the crust of the earth began the long process of exhuming that long, forgotten forest. Now those logs of stone, fossilized tracks of 70-pound lung fish, serrated teeth long as knife blades and crocodile jawbones the length of minivans all lie glittering in the cracked, pastel soil, mute witness to the history of the earth. And we warm-blooded heirs of the dinosaurs wander through the fine-grained drifts of time, frail and amazed.
To advertise in the Arizona Highlands Magazine, call Bobby Davis, Advertising Director, (928) 474-5251 ext. 105, or e-mail bdavis@payson.com
Highlands ARIZONA
PRACTICALITIES About 259 miles from Phoenix or 215 miles from Payson, the road through the Petrified Forest connects Highway 180 and Interstate 40. You’ll pay a $10 per-car entrance fee. Hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lodging: Lots of low-cost hotel rooms in nearby Holbrook, with its funky collection of rock, fossil and curio shops. You can also stay at La Posada in nearby Winslow, designed by Mary Colter and now serving gourmet meals in a historic setting. Cool and Close: The privately run Meteor Crater offers a look at the planet’s best-preserved asteroid impact crater.
Email: BonnieJ@npgcable.com Website: www.mypaysonrealty.com
Bonnie Jo on the go for you!
(928) 978-5183
Bonnie Dorris Broker, GRI
Arizona Highlands
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