BritishResearchers found a fossil forest filled with low, palm-like trees that existed in the mid-Devonian period 390 million years ago.
Fossil tree specimen in a forest in southwest England. Image: Christopher berry
Fossilized tree trunks discovered by chance in southwest England belong to the oldest forests on Earth, according to research published in the journal Geological Society. Live Science reported on March 5. The 3 million year old fossil exists longer than the Gilboa fossil forest in New York state, USA with a date of 390 million years. The new findings highlight the differences between the two ecosystems, showing that forests grew from relatively pristine to lush and green in just a few million years, according to Neil Davies, a professor in the Faculty of Science. Earth at the University of Cambridge, research team leader.
The results of the study are remarkable because they reveal a difference between the complexity of ancient trees at Gilboa and forests in England, where there appears to be only one type of tree. This extinct plant called cladoxylopsid is thought to be a close relative of ferns and horsetails. “Cladoxylopsid looks like a palm tree, but has nothing to do with palm trees. They have a long base in the middle and many palm-like fronds reaching out, but those are not leaves but twigs," Davies said.
The cladoxylopsids grow full of branches at the top, 2 - 4 m high, meaning this is not a tall forest. Fossil trees are preserved as hollow stems filled with sediment, and the fallen stem flattens over time, as if “cast inside a layer of rock.” The mark at the junction between the branch and the trunk is still clearly visible.
Davies and his colleagues encountered forest remnants during field research in the Hangman sandstone formation, dating from the mid-Devonian period (383 - 393 million years ago). During the Devonian period, Britain belonged to a continent called Laurentia, located just below the equator, meaning the climate was very warm and dry. Many older plants 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 forest with trees growing close together and large quantity.
Among the fossil trees, the team found crawling tracks of small insects from the Devonian period. Although they initially intended to examine the sediment, the fossil forest discovery could reveal a turning point in Devonian plant ecology.
An Khang (Follow Live Science)
