World's oldest fossil forest discovered in England

Scientists have discovered what they believe is the world's oldest petrified forest buried in rocks off the coast of South West England, according to reports. The discovery was made in high sandstone cliffs near Minehead, Somerset, near Butlin's holiday camp, and researchers from Cambridge and Cardiff universities say they are the oldest fossilized trees ever found in Britain and the oldest known forest on Earth.

The trees resemble palms and are known as Calamophyton. These early tree prototypes ranged in height from two to four meters. The researchers identified plant fossils, plant remains, fossilized tree logs and traces of roots. These fossils illustrate how ancient trees helped shape landscapes and stabilize riverbanks and coastlines hundreds of millions of years ago.

“When I first saw photographs of tree trunks, I immediately knew what they were, based on 30 years of study of this type of tree around the world,” said Dr Christopher Berry from the Cardiff School of Geosciences and Environmental Sciences. “It was amazing to see them so close to home. But the most amazing discovery came when I first saw these trees in the position in which they grew.”

Dr Paul Kenrick, a plant fossil expert at the Natural History Museum who was not involved in the study, emphasized the importance of these clues about how plants grew together at that time.

The fossil forest is estimated to be about four million years older than the previous record holder, found in New York state. The fossil forest, located in the Hangman Sandstone Formation along the Devon and Somerset coasts, dates back to the Devonian period, between 419 and 358 million years ago. This period is named after Devon because of the sea rocks symbolizing that era found off its coast.

At the time of its existence, the area of the fossil forest was a semi-arid plain adjacent not to England, but to parts of Germany and Belgium where similar fossils were found. "It was quite a strange forest - unlike any forest you see today," said Professor Neil Davies from Cambridge's Department of Geosciences, first author of the study. “There was no undergrowth to speak of, and the grass had not yet appeared, but these dense trees had many branches, which had a great impact on the landscape.”

Dr. Kenrick noted that these trees were very different from any known today. The closest modern analogue may be Dicksonia antarctica, a species of tree fern native to Australasia but popular in Britain as an ornamental plant.

Source: timesofindia