Two huge petrified tree trunks found on Lesvos

Two big petrified tree trunks, lying one on top of one another, were discovered during salvage excavations conducted by the Petrified Forest Natural History Museum of Lesvos in cooperation with PPC Renewables.

The 21- and 23-metre-long trunks are of coniferous trees and the largest found anywhere in the area of Lesvos' petrified forest.
According to museum director and University of Aegean professor Nikos Zouros, the trees "are probably ancestral forms of sequoia trees, and further research will confirm the details of their identity".

"The finds are spectacular, as they reveal the ferocity of the volcanic eruptions that took place around 20 million years ago in the region that is Lesvos today. The gigantic trees were uprooted and swept away by huge mud flows of volcanic materials, resulting in one ending up on top of the other where they were found," he added.