Hundreds of millions of fossil pine forests in China

The researchers found fossilized pine forests as large as 35 football fields, growing 359 - 419 million years ago in Anhui province.

The discovery of the oldest fossil forest in Asia is published in the August 8 issue of Current Biology. The forest was established in the Devonian, 250,000 square meters (equivalent to 35 football fields) and is located in a clay mine near An Hang town.

Section of a tree in the fossil forest.(Photo: PA).

The pine trees in the fossil forest are very similar to palm trees and grow in flood-prone coastal environments. Trees are usually less than 3.2 meters tall, the highest tree is estimated at 7.7 meters. Giant pines grow in the post-Devon period, mostly becoming coal that humans exploit today.

An Hang forest has an early growing root system that helps plants grow taller in the Stone Age. Fossil specimens from the forest help the team better understand the carbon dioxide depletion in the atmosphere and the process of consolidating coastal soil during that period. Fossil forests from the Devonian century are also found in the United States and Norway.

"High density and small size of trees can make the forest in An Hang look very similar to sugarcane fields, although the trees are distributed in intervals. This pine forest is similar to coastal mangroves due to the same environment. and plays a similar role in the ecosystem, " said Wang Deming, professor of Earth and Space Science at Peking University, who led the research.

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