World's oldest fossil forest discovered.

Researchers have found a fossilized forest with many low-growing, palm-like trees that existed during the mid-Devonian period, 390 million years ago.

Fossilized tree specimens in a forest in southwest England. Photo: Christopher Berry — Fossilized tree specimens in a forest in southwest England. Photo: *Christopher Berry*

Fossilized tree trunks discovered by chance in southwestern England belong to the oldest forest on Earth, according to research published in the journal Geological Society, Live Science reported on March 5. The 390-million-year-old fossils are older than the Gilboa fossil forest in New York State, USA, which dates back 386 million years. The new discovery highlights the differences between the two ecosystems, showing that forests developed from relatively pristine to lush and verdant in just a few million years, according to Neil Davies, professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge and lead researcher.

The research findings are noteworthy because they reveal a difference between the complexity of ancient vegetation at Gilboa and the English forest, where there appears to be only one type of plant. This extinct plant, called cladoxylopsid, is thought to be a close relative of ferns and horsetails. "Cladoxylopsid looks like a palm tree, but it has nothing to do with palms. It has a long central trunk and many comb-like leaves that extend outwards, but these aren't leaves, they're branches," Davies said.

These cladoxylopsids sprout numerous offshoots at the top, reaching heights of 2-4 meters, meaning this is not a tall forest. The fossilized trees are preserved as hollow trunks filled with sediment and fallen sections flattened over time, as if "cast inside the rock." The traces at the joints between the branches and the trunk are still clearly visible.

Davies and his colleagues stumbled upon the remains of the forest while conducting field research in the Hangman sandstone formation, dating from the mid-Devonian period (383-393 million years ago). During the Devonian, Britain was part of a continent called Laurentia located just below the equator, meaning the climate was very warm and dry. Many older plant species existed elsewhere in the world , with the first plants appearing on land 500 million years ago, but the new discovery is the earliest example of a densely packed forest.

Among the fossilized trees, the research team found tracks of small insects from the Devonian period. Although they initially intended to examine the sediment layer, the discovery of the fossilized forest could reveal a turning point in Devonian plant ecology.

An Khang (According to Live Science )

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