A squad of scientist has excavate the fossil oddment of a tropical woodland on the north-polar island of Svalbard , and it could help oneself explain one of the most spectacular climate shifts in Earth ’s story .
The fossil forest — stump of lycopod trees that reached elevation of about 13 feet — go steady back to the late Devonian menses some 380 million years ago . ( Svalbard , now a glacial barren , was a luxuriant chunk of equatorial real estate at that time . ) It ’s among the older timberland ever describe , eclipsed only by amid - Devonian forest in Gilboa , New York .
The conclusion of the Devonian was marked by a dramatic ball-shaped cooling event triggered by a drop in atmospherical carbon dioxide levels . One explanation for the atmospheric shift is the rising of CO2 - athirst timberland , but to date , very few Devonian tree diagram have actually been find . truehearted grounds for tropic woodland at the end Devonian supports the theory that trees had a big role to work in the climactic chemise that would show in an era of complex terrestrial ecosystem .
“ During the Devonian Period , it is wide believed that there was a huge driblet in the level of carbon copy dioxide in the atmosphere , from 15 times the present amount to something approaching current levels , ” said Cardiff University ’s Chris Berry , head author on a subject appear this week in Geology .
A reconstructed drawing of a Svalbard fossil wood . Image quotation : Chris Berry/ Cardiff University
“ The evolution of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree - sized flora is the most potential cause of this dramatic drop in carbon dioxide because the plant were occupy carbon dioxide through photosynthesis to build their tissue , and also through the process of forming soils , ” he keep .
finally , Devonian trees credibly set the stage of land - based life as we know it . It ’s a nice reminder that plant life were engineer the Earth long before world came on the scene — and that we owe our very universe to their efforts .
[ Read thefull scientific paperat Geology h / tAtlas Obscura ]
ArchaeologyClimateearth sciencePaleontologyScience
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