300 Million Year Forest Found

By seamus -

A fossilized, 300 million-year old forest has been discovered underneath a coal mine in Wuda, northern China. The forest was preserved by volcanic ash, similar to the preservation of the roman village of Pompeii, giving scientists a unique snapshot at plant life from a very remote era.
The discoveries include six different groups of plants, from ferns to 25-meter tall trees, along with extinct groups of spore-bearing trees called Noeggerathiales, which were not commonly found until now in Asia.
The really interesting thing to note is that coniferous and flowering plants are not found among the fossils because they had not evolved yet during the Paleozoic era.
These images are artist's depictions of the forest as it may have looked 300 million years ago.



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