Chinese park hopes 56-metre-long fossilised tree will put it in Guinness World Records book

An ecological park in northwestern China hopes that its 56-metre-long fossilised tree trunk will be recognised by Guinness World Records.

The section of petrified wood found in the Xinjiang Ancient National Park is expected to surpass the current record held by a 38-metre long piece of petrified wood, which was also unearthed in Xinjiang, the China News Service reported.

Petrified or silicified wood, also known as stone tree, is a type of fossil formed from a dead tree. It is created when plant material is buried by sediment and protected from decay. Its organic materials are then slowly replaced by minerals over hundreds of millions of years.

Many pieces of petrified wood had been found in Xinjiang, the report said.