Dinosaur fossils get most of the hype, but uncovering plant fossils is crucial for understanding the long-gone ecosystems of the past. In a plant find that’s definitely worth the buzz, a team of researchers have found the oldest known fossilized forest. The remains of this ancient forest are embedded in sandstone along the coast of southwest England and date back about 390 million years ago. These fossilized trees are roughly four million years older than the previous record holder–the Gilboa fossil forest in New York. The findings are detailed in a study published February 23 in the Journal of the Geological Society.
The fossilized trees were uncovered in a rock embedded in the Hangman Sandstone Formation of Somerset and Devon, which dates back 393 million to 383 million years ago. At a quick glance, they look a bit like palm trees. These Calamophyton trees were actually a “prototype” or an earlier evolutionary version of the relaxing tropical trees we know today. Instead of solid wood, their trunks were thin and hollow. They also had branches that were covered in hundreds of twig-like structures instead of broad shady leaves.
The tallest of these trees were only about 6.5 and 13 feet tall, compared to their descendants which can reach towering average heights of 30 to 50 feet. As Calamophyton grew, the trees shed their branches, and this vegetation likely supported the invertebrates living on the forest floor hundreds of millions of years ago.
The forest dates back between 419 and 358 million years ago, during the Devonian Period. This was when life on Earth began its first really big expansion from the sea up onto the land. By the end of the Denovian, the first seed-bearing plants and earliest land animals were well-established.
[Related: Feast your eyes on exquisite fossils from an ancient rainforest (and more).]
“The Devonian…
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