In an abandoned quarry in New York, scientists found the oldest forest fossil, 385 million years ago. Recently, a study in the academic journal Current Biology reported this finding.
The paper mentioned that the fossils found came from a tree with trunk and leaves, which is similar to today's trees. It is one of the only three known Devonian fossil forests so far, and advances the record of the world's oldest forest fossils by 2-3 million years.
The fossil was first discovered by a staff member of the State Museum of New York when he saw a huge root structure in a quarry. Chris sdot, co-author of the paper, from the school of earth and Marine Sciences, Cardiff University, UK; Berry said that when he first saw this' tree root ', he was a little suspicious. He thought it was just that contemporary trees grew in rocks and then the trunk was uprooted. When they carefully studied the soil profile, the researchers soon confirmed that the 'tree root' was much older.
Researchers speculated that a huge flood destroyed the forest, but the roots of the forest were preserved in the form of fossils. This guess is supported by other fossil evidence: between the roots, there are fish fossils.
This forest has a long history. More than 140 million years later, dinosaurs began to appear in the world. At that time, the main inhabitants of the forest were creatures called millipedes and other primitive insects that might or had not started flying.
'these fossil forests are very rare. ' "To really understand how trees begin to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, we need to understand the earliest forests," Berry said
Since the emergence of forests, great changes have taken place in the ecological environment of the earth. Research shows that the sharp decline of carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere during the Devonian period led to the cooling of the earth, which may lead to the extinction of species at the end of the period.
William sdot, the first author of the paper and professor of Bioscience at Binghamton University in the United States; Stan said that this is contrary to the rising level of carbon dioxide we face today, and it may also become extinct.
Therefore, in this sense, history is very important, Stan said. If we look at the origin and impact of these forests, especially the plants themselves and what they are doing, we may have a deep understanding of what is happening today.