Scientists have made an incredible discovery on the coast of South West England – the world’s oldest known fossilized forest. The forest was found in high sandstone cliffs near Minehead, Somerset, and is believed to be the oldest fossilized trees ever found in Britain and the oldest known forest on Earth.
The trees, known as calamophyton, resemble palm trees and were between two and four meters tall. They are described as a “prototype” of today’s trees and provide valuable insights into how early trees helped shape landscapes and stabilized riverbanks and coastlines hundreds of millions of years ago.
Dr. Christopher Berry from Cardiff’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, one of the co-authors of the study, expressed his excitement about the discovery, saying, “When I first saw pictures of the tree trunks I immediately knew what they were, based on 30 years of studying this type of tree worldwide. It was amazing to see them so near to home. But the most revealing insight comes from seeing, for the first time, these trees in the positions where they grew.”
The fossil forest is estimated to be about four million years older than the previous record holder found in New York State. It was discovered in the Hangman Sandstone Formation along the Devon and Somerset coasts and dates back to the Devonian Period, between 419 and 358 million years ago. This period marks life’s expansion onto land and is named after Devon due to its emblematic marine rocks found off the coast.
The researchers believe that during this time, the area where the fossil forest was found was a semi-arid plain connected to parts of Germany and Belgium, where similar fossils have also been discovered. Prof Neil Davies from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, the study’s first author, described the forest as “pretty weird” and unlike any forest we see today. There was no undergrowth or grass, but the densely-packed trees dropped lots of twigs, which had a significant impact on the landscape.
Dr. Paul Kenrick from the Natural History Museum, an expert on plant fossils, emphasized the significance of these findings in understanding how plants grew together during that time. He noted that the trees discovered in the fossil forest were very different from any we know today, with the closest modern counterpart being Dicksonia antarctica, a tree fern native to Australasia.
The discovery of the world’s oldest fossilized forest provides valuable insights into Earth’s ancient ecosystems and the role of early trees in shaping landscapes. It is a testament to the rich geological history of South West England and highlights the importance of continued scientific exploration and discovery in uncovering our planet’s past.
