British scientists find the oldest forest ever: trees 390 million years old | Sciences
The forest is found near high cliffs near the town of Minehead. According to researchers, the fossils of these trees are about 390 million years old. This makes the forest about four million years older than the previous “record holder”, a forest in the US state of New York.
The geologists wrote in the magazine that the trees did not resemble trees as we know them today Journal of the Geological Society. The primeval forest consists of a “typical” tree that closely resembles a modern palm tree.
The trees had thin bark and were hollow inside. It also had no leaves, but its branches were covered with hundreds of branches. They were about 2 to 4 meters high, much smaller than trees today.
Lead researcher Neil Davies said: “This was a very strange forest. It would not have looked like forests as we know them today.” “There were no plants or grasses. But the trees and branches that they dropped on the ground had a huge impact on the landscape.”
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