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Bottom of FormTHE NATIONAL FOSSIL WOOD PARK AT THIRUVAKKARAI

This place Thiruvakkarai can be reached from Tindivanam ( Tindivanam is 115 kms from Chennai) travelling 35 kms. on the Tindivanam-Pondicherry Road.Or if you are coming from Pondicherry, it is at a distance of 50 kilometres . We took the Madras-Tindivanam - Thiruvakkarai- Road. We had to pass through a place called Mayilam which has a very famous Temple for Lord Muruga, which we decided to visit on our way back from Thiruvakkarai.But this was not to be. We stayed for a long time at the Devi Temple and it looked as if the Mayilam Temple would be closed on our way back.The driver of the auto riksha suggested that we go over to see the " Kal Maram " ( literally translated as Stone Tree)which was just a kilometre from this Temple. To clear the confusion in our minds, he explained that there was a small village there which had fossils of trees that dated back to fourty or fifty million years . Weren't we excited !!The road to this place was narrow, winding through bushes and trees and rocky in certain places.Here was seen, tucked in a very very quiet wooded area ,a treasure trove of trees that had grown millions of years back !!The driver told us that many people did not even know the existence of this place (like us) . In a way it was good, as there were no plastic garbage strewn around and people making a mess here !! We enjoyed seeing all the fossilised trees - "Stone Trees" as the guide called them . Long ,thick trunks of stones lying here and there. we touched them and they were hard !!So, when the kids came here last December, we decided to take them over and our grandson was thrilled seeing the petrified trees and also the very huge Banyan tree with so many trees growing from it.I have posted a few pictures of the Park. The next time any of you visit Pondicherry, please don't miss out on this Park. The guide there takes you around and explains everything. We should be proud of this Park !! The board with the information on this Park needs to be done up fresh.I hear, the oldest National Wood Fossil Park is in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, where 180 million years ago, in the Thar desert area of the present age, the climate was warm and humid and there were thick forests , that too -bordering the sea !!The Akal Fossil Wood Park - it is called , housing fossil wood 180 million years old !!Yet another Fossil Wood Park is at Sathanur near Trichy. Please make a visit to any of these three places with your kids. The kids will be thrilled ( Atleast I presume !! I know , kids these days are glued to their Play Stations and video games) !!

The entrance to the Fossil Park

This board packed with information needs to be replaced

These reddish tree trunks( once upon a time) are the fossils- 20 million years old.The huge Banyan tree behind has fresh trees growing from the aerial roots .

The trunks and protruding roots

The beautiful green canopy

More Fossils

Fossil of an uprooted piece .Looks like a giant's hand - folded fingers.Eek !! May be they are !!Ah ! A petrified human - giant- hand!!

These two are more greyish. May be another type of tree.No snakes inside those tiny holes

This was near the base of one of the tree trunks. A sculpture on a rock. Couldn't make out who the God seated in the middle is, flanked by two other figures. May be the ASI could throw some light on this.Obviously, Pooja is being done here.Broken pieces of sculpture found near the Temple, under one of the trees.

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Well, Thiruvakkarai houses two things. One, a temple, theChandramouliswarar temple, and another, the Fossil Wood Park. This time I went to the park.

What exactly is a fossil wood park? Long, long ago, once a upon a time, about two million years ago, our great great grandparents, as stone age men, chopped wood. Wood means not branches and twigs, Im talking about huge, wide, tree trunks!Some which were even 30meters long and 1.5 meters in diameter.I dunno what they used it for. But then, along the river, these tree trunks got buried in the course of time.

Over time, the organic matter inside them got replaced by silica and they got fossilized. They retained their color and shape and texture, but got rock solid! Some were very interesting. See the above photo. Doesnt the texture look like the Om symbol?

The best part is that you can still see the annular rings, the texture, colors of the layers, nodes, everything It looks so much like wood, but feels like stone!

In technical terms, they are theMio-Pliocene Sedimentary rocks. These rocks here are called Cuddalore sandstone formations.Around 200 such tree trunks have been found in this region in an area that covers 247 acres.All such fossil woods have been collected from various places in the surroundings and placed here in an open air museum kinda set up.

The European naturalist M. Sonneret was the first one to document the existence of such trees here in this region in 1781. Presently, this is maintained by GSI, the Geological Survey of India!

Think of it, itstwo million yearsago. The trees that were there at that point of time may not even exist today. Its like a treasury! A particular variety of tree resembled todays tamarind! Trees were of both Gymnosperm and Angiosperm varieties, meaning that the trees had seeds were of both open and closed varieties.

The place also has a huge central banyan tree which is 300 years old. No, it was not as big as

But this one too had a little village deity beneath it and some votive figures of horses o