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UK RESEARCHERS HAVE UNEARTHED ANCIENT FOSSIL FORESTS
The fossil forests, with tree stumps preserved in place, were found in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago situated in the Arctic Ocean. They were identified and described by Dr Chris Berry of Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Ocean Science.
Prof John Marshall, of Southampton University, has accurately dated the forests to 380 million years.
The forests grew near the equator during the late Devonian period, and could provide an insight into the cause of a 15-fold reduction in levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere around that time.
Current theories suggest that during the Devonian period (420-360 million years ago) there was a huge drop in the level of CO2 in the atmosphere, thought to be largely caused by a change in vegetation from diminutive plants to the first large forest trees.
Forests pulled CO2 out of the air through photosynthesis – the process by which plants create food and tissues – and the formation of soils.
Although initially the appearance of large trees absorbed more of the sun’s radiation, eventually temperatures on Earth also dropped dramatically to levels very similar to those experienced today because of the reduction in atmospheric CO2.
Because of the high temperatures and large amount of rainfall on the equator, it is likely that equatorial forests contributed most to the drawdown of CO2. Svalbard was located on the equator around this time, before the tectonic plate drifted north by around 80° to its current position in the Arctic Ocean.
“These fossil forests shows us what the vegetation and landscape were like on the equator 380 million years ago, as the first trees were beginning to appear on the Earth,” said Dr Berry.
The team found that the forests in Svalbard were formed mainly of lycopod trees, better known for growing millions of years later in coal swamps that eventually turned into coal deposits – such as those in South Wales. They also found that the forests were extremely dense, with very small gaps – around 20cm – between each of the trees, which probably reached about 4m high.
Dr Berry had previously worked with American colleagues to describe another slightly older forest, at Gilboa in upstate New York. The Gilboa forest was located at least 30° south of the equator at that time, and the tree stumps in place belonged to different types of plants.
“This demonstrates that there was already geographical diversity of forest plant types and ecology just as soon as they had evolved,” Dr Berry continued.
“During the Devonian Period, it is widely believed that there was a huge drop in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, from 15 times the present amount to something approaching current levels.
“The evolution of tree-sized vegetation is the most likely cause of this dramatic drop in carbon dioxide because the plants were absorbing carbon dioxide through photosynthesis to build their tissues, and also through the process of forming soils.”
Svalbard is currently one of the most northernmost inhabited areas in the world with a population of around 2,500.
Svalbard now plays host to the ‘Global Seed Vault’ – a secure, underground frozen seed bank in which a large variety of plant seeds are preserved. The vault functions to provide a safety net against a loss of diversity in a global crisis.
“It’s amazing that we’ve uncovered one of the very first forests in the very place that is now being used to preserve the Earth’s plant diversity,” continued Dr Berry.
Why were there tropical forests in what is now very cold climates? Could such forests be from the Pre-Alluvial age?
Some believe that before the flood, moisture came from the ground and there was a thicker atmosphere containing water leading to a planetary greenhouse effect. This could explain fossilized tropical vegetation in areas of tundra today. The fossil record also shows that gigantism was the norm, and this could be the result of a different atmosphere and gravitational force.
One thing we know about planets is they change. Mars once had running water in abundance according to NASA.
t8,
Can you prove that that those fossils were ever alive?
This is a question based on logical reasoning not necessary the reasoning scientist use.
Unless it is a cover-up, the evidence points to a living forest that met its end quickly.
Do you believe fossils are part of a conspiracy theory?
BTW, I cannot prove you are alive, but the evidence also points to you being a human being.
t8,
My point is that it is an assumption that the forest was alive at one time because we have found the same thing we would if it had been alive. The assumption is safe only if there is not an intelligent actor who has the ability and desire to make a forest that was never alive even though appearances are it was.
Scripture teaches us God would have a prophet of another God perform miracles in order to test the hearts of believers which means the assumption that there is not an intelligent actor who has the ability and desire to fake the evidence is false. I can certainly see him faking the evidence in order to test the hearts of humanity.
t8,
The article speaks of the forest belonging to the Devonian era and that is theorized to be a era of great disturbance in the earth that occurred about 419.2 million years ago. That is first generation of humanity is recorded as existing on earth. In order for that aging to be correct to the flood the length of years of the generations of humanity and even the number of generations of man testified in Scripture cannot be literally correct. The aging could be wrong if someone. not necessary human, falsified the evidence in some manner.
Well you are free to believe that such things were put there to throw off our faith. For me such things do not contradict what I believe. Scripture for example doesn’t say anywhere that the heavens and the earth a 6000 years old. Such people who teach this give the Bible a bad name. It is simply not in the Bible.
Scripture mentions many ages before and after. God is eternal. There was a lot going on before we arrived on the scene.
Fossils in now way contradict scripture.
t8,
If I counted the generations correctly in Luke 3 then Jesus was of the 67th generation of humanity. If you assume each generation was 1000 years then that is still 67,000 years from the creation of Adam to the time of Abraham to the time of Jesus’ death on the cross. The Devonian era was more that 6 times older than that. It could have happened during the creation of the world since the death of plants might not be considered death since plants are physical creations we call living today. It could not be the flood and of if any animals died then it would be evidence death was in the world before Adam fell from grace.
There are many things we do not know.
But we do know that a huge flood could do things in the geological record that would take millennia otherwise.
We also know that there will be and have been many ages.
Did God mean to create plants or animals that live eternally, or do they last for the age.
Yes man was designed to live eternally, through the ages, but what about plants and animals.
An end to life is perhaps only a curse for man as he was not suppose to die.
2 Peter 2:12
But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
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