Earth’s oldest forest is discovered near a Butlin’s in Somerset: Fossilised … trends now
Earth’s oldest forest is discovered near a Butlin’s in Somerset: Fossilised … trends now
A Butlin’s in Somerset might not seem like a natural backdrop to groundbreaking scientific discovery.
But researchers have now discovered Earth’s oldest forest hidden in the sandstone cliffs near the holiday resort.
Scientists from the University of Cambridge and University of Cardiff discovered the fossil remains of an ancient forest that once stretched across Devon and Somerset.
This fossil forest is believed to date back 390 million years, beating the previous record holder in New York by more than four million years.
Lead author Professor Neil Davies from the University of Cambridge, said: ‘People sometimes think that British rocks have been looked at enough, but this shows that revisiting them can yield important new discoveries.’
Scientists found the fossilised remains of tree trunks (pictured). As this cross-section of a log shows, these trees would have been hollow in the middle
Scientists have discovered Earth’s oldest forest in an ancient sandstone formation near Minehead, Somerset, which is now home to a Butlin’s holiday resort
In the study, the researchers studied the rocks of the ‘Hangman Sandstone Formation’ – a 0.8-mile (1.4km) thick band of rock from the Devonian period, which stretches between 419 million and 358 million years ago.
It was in this period that life began its first serious expansion onto land.
Until now, the cliffs on the South Bank of the Bristol Channel had been believed to contain no plant fossils.
However, by scaling England’s highest sea cliffs – some of which can only be reached by boat – the researchers discovered the remains of tree trunks and twigs from an ancient forest.
Dating back more than 350 million years, these are the oldest plant fossils ever found in Britain.
Before this discovery, the oldest known forest in the world was in Green County, about a two-hour drive north of New York City.
This forest grew around 385 million years ago and survived long enough to have been seen by dinosaurs.
The fossils preserve fallen logs (pictured) in remarkable detail, showing the patterns that would have covered their bark
Here, scientists study the fossil of a large stump. Although not as large as their modern descendants, these ancient trees could grow between two and four metres tall
However, the fossil trees found in Somerset wouldn’t have been anything like the forests found today in the nearby Exmoor National Park.
These trees, called Calamophyton, would have looked a little like modern-day palm trees, according to the researchers.
Unlike modern trees, they were thin and hollow at the centre,