William Atkins
Wednesday, 10 September 2008 21:24
Science -
Climate
Page 2 of 3
The fossilized forests originally grew on Earth about 300 million years ago. Many generations of forests grew on top of each other—only a few millions of years separating each generation of forest.
Falcon-Lang states that because of cyclic climate patterns millions of years ago, which consisted of “subsidence and flooding,” the forest was preserved.
According to the BioEdOnline (from Baylor College of Medicine) article “
Ancient fossil forest found by accident,”
the remains of the underground rainforest were buried 300 million years
ago when an earthquake or tremor sunk the forest about 16 feet (five
meters) into the earth. Due to repeated sinkings and floodings, the
trees became further buried, where they eventually became fossilized
after millions of years.
Specifically, an earthquake dropped the area several feet below the surface, which allowed flooding from a nearby river to further submerge vegetation and bury it in sediment. Then, mud and silt came into the submerged area, preserving the vegetation, tree stumps, branches, and other plants in a layer.
The fossils were found during mining operations in eastern Illinois, near the borders with the states of Kentucky and Indiana. A total of six forested areas have so far been found.
The location of the first fossil forest found is just south and west of Danville, Illinois, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the east of the Illinois State Geological Survey in Champaign, Illinois. This 300-million-year-old fossil forest was found on top of the Herrin coal seam in the Riola and Vermillion Grove coal mines.
Dr. Falcon-Lang stated,
"It's kind of an odd view looking at a forest bottom-up. You can actually see upright tree stumps that are pointed vertically up above your head with the roots coming down." [BBC News]
Page three describes where to go on the Web to find very interesting photographs of the preserved trees, leaves, and other plant parts from the six ancient fossilized forests in Illinois.
