Ancient Forest Thaws From Melting Glacial Tomb

.  An ancient forest has thawed from under a melting glacier in Alaska and is now exposed to the world for the first time in more than 1,000 years. 

Stumps have been thawing from beneath the Mendenhall Glacier for about 50 years, but recently, considerably more have been found in upright positions with roots still intact.
 

Stumps and logs have been popping out from under southern Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier — a 36.8-square-mile (95.3 square kilometers) river of ice flowing into a lake near Juneau — for nearly the past 50 years. However, just within the past year or so, researchers based at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau have noticed considerably more trees popping up, many in their original upright position and some still bearing roots and even a bit of bark, the Juneau Empire first reported last week. "There are a lot of them, and being in a growth position is exciting because we can see the outermost part of the tree and count back to see how old the tree was," Cathy Connor, a geology professor at the University of Alaska Southeast who was involved in the investigation, told LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet. "Mostly, people find chunks of wood helter-skelter, but to see these intact upright is kind of cool."

The team has tentatively identified the trees as either spruce or hemlock, based on the diameter of the trunks and because these are the types of trees growing in the region today, Connor said, but the researchers still need to further assess the samples to verify the tree type. A protective tomb of gravel likely encased the trees more than 1,000 years ago, when the glacier was advancing, Connor said, basing the date on radiocarbon ages of the newly revealed wood. As glaciers advance, Connor explained, they often emit summer meltwater streams that spew aprons of gravel beyond the glacier's edge. [Images: Shrinking Alaska Glacier Spied from Space] A gravel layer about 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) high appears to have encased the trees before the glacier ultimately advanced enough to plow over them, snapping off limbs and preserving the stumps in an ice tomb.

Researchers have collected pieces of wood to date using radiocarbon dating techniques, and have found that the forest is more than 1,000 years old. Credit: Jamie BradshawView full size image Taku Glacier, located south of Juneau, is currently triggering this same process as it advances over a modern forest of cottonwood trees, offering the researchers a chance to observe the process in real time, Connor said. Unlike the growing Taku Glacier, which accumulates snow at a high elevation and thus is well situated to grow, the lower-elevation Mendenhall Glacier has retreated by an average rate of about 170 feet (52 m) per year since 2005. This year's summer retreat has not yet been calculated, but the team expects it to be relatively high due to unusually warm summer temperatures, Connor said. .

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With the warming climate sites like this should become more prevalent. It gives us the opertunity to look into the past. Check out the link for some cool pics.

Hopefully there are not any nasty viruses hiding out in those old bits of wood, I have a feeling they could cause a massive issue

It make me wonder about this whole Global warming thing because "JUNEAU EMPIRE
The Mendenhall Glacier’s recession is unveiling the remains of ancient forests that have remained frozen beneath the ice for up to 2,350 years." So the climate was much warmer then it is now not all that long ago . Much of the stories we get from studies seem to say or give the impression that the ice age was 10000 years ago but if Alaska was warm only 2300 years ago what cause it to cool ? I mean like did they have a IPCC group of people that caused the global warming that must have been there back then ?

reply to post by the2ofusr1


The fear isn't that it warming it's the speed at which it is warming. Change is fine rapid change isn't. It takes time for ecosystems to adapt and thrive.

Anyway this article is about finding things that have been hurried and preserved up until now. We may be able to learn a lot.

the2ofusr1
So the climate was much warmer then it is now not all that long ago .

No. All this means is that the glacier was less extensive a few thousand years ago - then grew and is now, for some reason, retreating again. There's no evidence that it was any warmer (temp alone is not necessarily a reason for glacier growth or retreat) - especially since the trees are thought to be the same species as those growing in the area today.

That said, it probably was warmer there 4-6,000 years ago at the peak of the current interglacial, since when temps have cooled, especially in the Arctic, due to changes in axial tilt*. It's likely therefore that the glacier has gradually grown over the past 4,000 years, covering trees some 2,000 years ago, which now, oddly, are being revealed once more. Question is: why is the glacier now retreating?


Edit: * this cooling, and glacial advance, over the past few thousand years is known as the Neoglaciation. It should be continuing.

With this retreating, I wonder if archeologists may have an opportunity to find remnants of pre-european influences or other artifacts of possible Native North American settlements that were buried under the advancing glacier? If so, would this cause an issue with the current laws regarding Native American artifacts and the First Nation claim to them?

Interesting none the less.

reply to post by On the level


oddly enough we need those viruses. It's like a person that get a flu. It builds antibodies. But if you never get exposed to anything then you could die the first time you catch a simple cold.

reply to post by Grimpachi


The world wil end when the snow reavels whats been hidden for thousands of years...including virusus'.

People need to understand that it is NOT global warming that is thawing these glaciers.

Thats the point that every journamist and scientist is avoiding due to the politics of the subject. each side has their own vested interests.

I posted ages ago about a science report written back in the late 80's early 90's I beleive that stated that the ice caps are starting to melt due to extra "soot" in the atmosphere.

This soot settles on the ice and soot atttracts and holds alot more solar energy/tempriture and this is whats causing the ice to melt, even thou the global average hasnt risen.

The thermal properties of pollution settling on the ice is whats causing the increase melt without increase tempriture.

Period.

The broom, while humble and possessing very little knowledge, knows at least this fact: the more informed about a subject, the less dogmatic, or radical, a position one takes.

Imterestingly enough, in the ancient scrolls of truth, it is revealed in Revelation, that there would be a time when man would be ruining the earth. Of this there must be a certainty. Even, while at present, global-warming may yet be up for debate. Although time will indeed reveal all.]

reply to post by Grimpachi


This obviously proves to us that the world was at a warmer temperature at one point when this forest was able to grow in the first place.

A basic observation tells us that we are not responsible for global warming, which doesn't exist. Not in the way they are proposing it exists anyway.

And cool find.

reply to post by onequestion


According to scripture there once existed a water canopy above the atmosphere. This regulated earth's temperature. This canopy fell during a world-wide deluge. Archeology attests to this fact. Thus your ignorant assumption is proven false. But, it is understandable you know not of such basic facts. For various reasons revealed it has been hidden, and many have been taught through occult and secret societies, the lies that prevail over those who think, in error, their darkness is light.

the2ofusr1
It make me wonder about this whole Global warming thing because "JUNEAU EMPIRE
The Mendenhall Glacier’s recession is unveiling the remains of ancient forests that have remained frozen beneath the ice for up to 2,350 years." So the climate was much warmer then it is now not all that long ago . Much of the stories we get from studies seem to say or give the impression that the ice age was 10000 years ago but if Alaska was warm only 2300 years ago what cause it to cool ? I mean like did they have a IPCC group of people that caused the global warming that must have been there back then ?

I was going to say something along those lines
If glaciers retreated that far in the past long enough for a forest to grow
do we have anything to worry about with todays glaciers retreating

reply to post by maryhinge

I think we have all been a little concerned with some of the chicken littles we hear and its because tptb are being controlled to move the masses to a NWO ...I think it becomes very clear with the IPCC and the UN's other groups that put out stuff like Agenda 21 and being totally useless in stopping crimes against humanity . Heck it would seem that they might be guilty of helping in some cases .

I find this global warming very strange because here we have a glacier melting yet at one of the poles the glacier/ice is spreading merrily (I read this on an ATS post only a weeks or so ago). How come it spreads in one place and shrinks in another? It doesn't make any sense to me.

I do know my weather in the South of England is wrong. We have had a hot summer, which we don't usually get but last winter was dire with rain and especially winds like I can't remember before. Also a couple of nights ago we had a thumder and lightning storm, the like of which I have no memory of for the last 60 odd years. This was something else, one thumder clap sounded like a bomb exploding above my house. The lightening just kept on going and going. Usually if there is a thunder storm we all go to the top of the house and look out over the Bay and watch, but this put me under the duvet - and I'm deaf. So something is happening to our climate that is not Shiloh friendly!

reply to post by onequestion

This obviously proves to us that the world was at a warmer temperature at one point when this forest was able to grow in the first place.

The fact that the Earth was once warmer than now was discovered a long time ago. There have been periods of time when no ice existed at the Arctic.

However that does lend to your leap in logic below:

A basic observation tells us that we are not responsible for global warming, which doesn't exist. Not in the way they are proposing it exists anyway.

Earth's climate warms and cools according to the most dominant force on it. Generally that is the sun and our orbital position around it and our tilt toward or away from it (Milankovitch cycles). Other things can become more dominant if they are persistent or intense enough, such as ash or sulphur dioxides from periods of high or intense volcanic spewing interfering with "normal" atmospheric conditions by reflecting too much energy from the sun and causing a cooling or slowing down or halting a warming. Conversely other things can build up in the atmosphere that would cause a warming or slowing down or halting a cooling by trapping too much energy from the sun instead of allowing that energy to reflect all the way back out to space... any idea what those things might be?

reply to post by Grimpachi


S&F That's awesome!! Looks like an adventure!!!

Shiloh7
I find this global warming very strange because here we have a glacier melting yet at one of the poles the glacier/ice is spreading merrily (I read this on an ATS post only a weeks or so ago). How come it spreads in one place and shrinks in another? It doesn't make any sense to me.

Glacial advance/retreat can be caused by changes in precipitation as well as temp.

Also, of course, just because the world as a whole is getting warmer it doesn;t mean everywhere on the planet is - even within Britain we can have a record hot summer across most of the country, yet some parts have a cold, wet summer.

However, whilst in a few places some glaciers are advancing, the majority around the world are in retreat - including both Greenland and Antarctica. What has increased in recent years is the winter extent of Antarctic sea ice. Perversely, this may actually be due to warming of the continent (Antarctica this year recorded it's mildest August since records began in the early 1950s) - remembering too that the region is very much colder than anywhere else and a 5c average temp rise still leaves the temp well below freezing. Fresh water freezes more readily than salt water and whist changes in wind have been suggested as a primary reason for the growing sea ice, if the sea itself is less saline due to more meltwater from glaciers on the land, it may be that the sea will be more prone to freezing.

Grimpachi
reply to post by the2ofusr1

 

The fear isn't that it warming it's the speed at which it is warming. Change is fine rapid change isn't. It takes time for ecosystems to adapt and thrive.

Anyway this article is about finding things that have been hurried and preserved up until now. We may be able to learn a lot.

Yup. And from what I understand, we're in a natural warming-up period exiting the last ice age, but our activities and pollution are speeding it up, which is bad since ecosystems can only adapt so quickly.

During middle Roman times, Norway had very little ice on its 'glaciers' also southern Britannia had lots of grape vines, those vines do not like any sort of cool or cold weather, last century Britain was growing grape vines again, this century not so much, swings and round-a-bouts I suppose.