Tree Fossil and History Facts

It was reported on 3 Feb 2024 that a 350 million year old ancient forest has been uncovered in New Brunswick, Canada of a unique 3D crown shape at Sanford Quarry in the Canadian Maritime Area. It has been named Sanfordiacaulis densifolia and had an unusual spiky trunk. This fossil find in the rock determined that they were 10 metres high with the leaves of 200 fronds resembling tropical tree ferns today. Scientists have determined that there was an earthquake that buried parts of the forest in rock, hence they have survived.

"Earth's earliest forest" was found in 2023 - a 390m year old "fossil forest" of Cladoxylopsida related to ferns and Sphenopside (horsetails) looking like modern-day ferns and standing 6½ to 18 ft tall, in the Hangman Sandstone Formation, which is 1700m thick in its folded, uplifted sandstone structure at Glenthore Beach, Combe Martin, North Portland, Exmoor, Devon - the landmass then was at the Equator, the land then being in the continental area known as Laurentia, in the Emsian Period. These trees are thought to have created river channels that helped develop plants and habitat to evolve life on Earth.

Trees had already existed for 50 million years, including during the Carboniferous Period before conifers began to appear.

Britain was re-colonised by trees some 12,000 years ago, after the last Ice Age.

450 million years ago in the Ordovician Era, before trees evolved, the Earth's landscape appears to have been inhabited by giant fungi forests some 29 feet tall, and fossils have been found worldwide. In Saudi Arabia in 2008, one of them — a protocaxite — was the first mycelium, discovered in 1843. (See World of Warcraft 'Zangarmarsh' for likely appearance.)

A 377 million year old tree fossil has been found near Torbay in a protected global geopark, the oldest so far in Britain. The remains have been removed for scientific research due to being situated in rocks at base of cliffs and in danger of being washed away by incoming tides. The tree fossils looked a lot like Palm Trees but have no relationship to present Palms.

A fossilised forest has been discovered in the south west of England at some 390 million years old now regarded as the oldest worldwide being the 386 million years old one found in New York State.

Acorns and nuts (especially from Beeches) fall directly beneath the tree, but are carried by Jays to other areas.

The island of Socotra in Yemen contains many endemic tree species — i.e. they are found nowhere else on Earth — many of which have a totally unique, beautiful appearance. Sadly, several of these species are considered endangered.

Trees Are Our Ancestors

A 42,000-year-old kauri tree discovered in New Zealand has provided valuable insights into the Laschamp event, a brief reversal of Earth's magnetic field. This tree was preserved in a bog, allowing its rings to remain intact over millennia. Spanning 1,700 years, the rings of the tree offer a detailed record of environmental conditions during the magnetic field's collapse. The Laschamp Event approximately 42,000 years ago temporarily reversed and weakened Earth's magnetic field, increased cosmic radiation to reach Earth's surface, potentially affecting climate patterns and contributing to environmental changes. The discovery of this ancient tree provides a unique opportunity to study the relationship between geomagnetic reversals and environmental shifts and improve our understanding of Earth's climatic history.

In Boxford Berkshire has been found a huge oak timber buried in peat that has human carvings on it, making it the oldest such object in Britain at 4500 years old, made 2000 years before Stonehenge was built.

The Queen Elizabeth I oak tree in Greenwich Park is a thousand years old. Legend says that the Queen sheltered in its hollow trunk when out hunting. It died in 1991 and for many years it was held up by ivy before eventually collapsing.