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Researchers have unearthed a forest in northern China preserved under a layer of ash deposited 300 million years ago.
Preservation of the forest, just west of the Inner Mongolian district of Wuda, has been likened to that of the Italian city of Pompeii.
The researchers were able to "reconstruct" nearly 1,000 sq m of the forest's trees and plant distributions.
The team identified six groups of trees, ranging from low-lying tree ferns to now-extinct 25m trees Sigillaria and Cordaites, as well well-preserved specimens of another extinct group called Noeggerathiales.
Originally posted by Mdv2
The team identified six groups of trees, ranging from low-lying tree ferns to now-extinct 25m trees Sigillaria and Cordaites, as well well-preserved specimens of another extinct group called Noeggerathiales.
It's a stunning discovery. Only days ago, I read that Russian scientists grew a plant from a 30,000 years prehistoric seed found under the Siberian permafrost and now this. I thought 30,000 years was a long time, but this is a discovery of a forest that dates back 300 million years!
It's a shame that these extinct trees cannot be recreated in a lab. In 2007, however, they found a baby mammoth under the permafrost and scientists from Russia and Japan believe that they will be able to clone a mammoth by 2017.
www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)
Originally posted by TheGreatest
Pretty interesting, it would be interesting to see if there is anything under the ash that might give us an insight into ancient peoples life.