When you purchase through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
An ancient mangrove woods with tree that towered up to 130 feet in high spirits has been discovered over 20 million year after a volcanic mudflow stifle it in what is now Panama , a new study reveals .
Researchers first discovered the fossils in 2018 during a geological pleasure trip on Barro Colorado Island ( BCI ) . The island sit around in Panama ’s human - made Gatun Lake , which thousands of ship cross every twelvemonth as they cruise through the Panama Canal . BCI once formed part of a hilly landscape that became part submerged in 1913 , when engineersdammed the Chagres Riverto build the canal , and was set away as a nature reserve in 1923 . Today , the tropical forest of BCI are some of the most intensively analyze in the cosmos .
A fossilized wood sample discovered on Barro Colorado Island in Panama.
" We never imagined that dodo wood would be in BCI " gift the numerous scientists who have follow the island over the past one C — " nobody had report them , " subject field co - authorCarlos Jaramillo , a geologist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama , tell Live Science in an email . The fossils " are hard to state apart from any other decaying tree in the forest , " because they look like rotting stumps , Jaramillo sound out .
Related : orphic Mexican mangrove forest is ' trapped in time ' one C of nautical mile from the coast
Despite their appearance , the Rhizophora mangle fossil are actually spectacularly preserve , Jaramillo said . That ’s because a volcanic eruption buried the trees around 23 million year ago during the former Miocene epoch ( 23 million to 5.3 million years ago ) , slow down down vector decomposition and freezing the landscape in time .
Researcher Karen Cárdenas sitting next to a fossil mangrove on Barro Colorado Island.
" Fossil wood samples also known as petrified wood store a swell amount of info , " study lead authorCamila Martínez Aguillón , a paleoecologist at EAFIT University in Colombia , told Live Science in an email . The cellular structure is mineralized over the eon and preserve intact , offer research worker " a rare and heavy chance to locomote into the past times , " Martínez Aguillón said .
The researcher examined 121 fossilise wood samples that lay scupper in a small creek on BCI and find out 50 of them belong to a previously unsung mintage , which they namedSonneratioxylon barrocoloradoensis . The newfound fossil species resemble mangrove tree that grow in Southeast Asia ; Australasia , a area that includes Australia , New Zealand and some surrounding islands ; and parts of tropical Africa today , Martínez Aguillón said .
But the ancient woodland stood much tall than modern Rhizophora mangle , according to a subject field in the March 2024 issue of the journalPalaeogeography , Palaeoclimatology , Palaeoecology .
The newfound fossil mangrove species grew taller than the mangroves that grow today in Southeast Asia (pictured).
Whereas the canopies of most living mangrove trees pass around 43 animal foot ( 13 beat ) high , S. barrocoloradoensisgrew to around 82 feet ( 25 m ) and could tower up to 130 feet ( 40 m ) .
— When did Earth ’s first forests come forth ?
— What are the big rainforests in the earth ?
— Ancient trees form bloodlines that bolster up forests for chiliad of yr
The ancient trees in all likelihood evolved the same selection scheme Rhizophora mangle use today , preferring brackish water to extremely saline ocean waters , Jaramillo sound out . The forest fringed a narrow-minded peninsula that connected present - day central Panama to North America before theIsthmus of Panama form , sometime between 23 million and 3 million years ago .
The Rhizophora mangle fossils were all in a like state of conservation , prompting the research worker to think the forest was wiped out by a single volcanic eruption that flooded the landscape painting with mud .
Since the researchers first bring out Natalie Wood fossil on Barro Colorado Island , " people have been finding enough more all over the island , " Jaramillo say .
