chain saw bar oil???

do you have any scientific proof of these comments:

that the ground is contaminated and the trees have soaked up decades worth of oil, gas, diesel, and other fossil fuels and made the inside of the tree pink.

or do you just have a consensus of whomever you are talking about in the plural?? .. or is this the royal WE???

ken

IMHO,
While there MAY be in fact contaminates that may or may not have had something to do with the trees deaths, I don't believe that is what you are seeing here. If you note in your pictures that the center of the wood seems to be discolored darker and appears to be "wet". Also note that the pink coloration seems to be on the edge of that wet looks, or seems to be associated with decay in some photos. This leads me to believe this is a product of the process of breaking down the wood. MANY microorganism are colored, or produce or excrete pigments when certain conditions are meet. Fungi, Slim Molds, Cyanobacteria are all frequently to typically colored, and all would have members that would be very happy in the conditions of a decaying tree trunk.

Just my $0.02
Arktrees

I think Arktrees is on the right track. The effect os called spalting, and woodworkers sometimes like to use such wood.

The link below shows red spalting in box elder wood

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:357150}}

I believe we are looking at box elder. Every one I've ever cut into, and that's a lot, has this red coloration.

+oM