22 replies to this topic

[Still Waters]

gizmodo.com said:

American and Chinese scientists are flabbergasted after discovering a giant 298-million-year-old forest buried intact under a coal mine near Wuda, in Inner Mongolia, China.

They are calling it the Pompeii of the Permian period because, like the ancient Roman city, it was covered and preserved by volcanic ash.

Like Pompeii, this swamp forest is so perfectly maintained that scientists know where every plant originally was. This has allowed them to map it and to create the images above. This extraordinary finding "is like Pompeii", according to University of Pennsylvania paleobotanist Hermann Pfefferkorn, who characterized it as "a time capsule."

Read more...

http://www.dailymail...c-ash-Wuda.html

Edited by Still Waters, 22 February 2012 - 10:28 PM.
Additional source link added

[rashore]

Very cool

[Verneph]

I was hoping for some pictures of the actual site. Oh well, still a very cool story.

[I Am Not Resisting]

I was hoping for some pictures too.

[Still Waters]

Verneph, on 22 February 2012 - 09:19 PM, said:

I was hoping for some pictures of the actual site. Oh well, still a very cool story.

I Am Not Resisting, on 22 February 2012 - 09:51 PM, said:

I was hoping for some pictures too.

I've edited the OP to add another source link which has pictures.

[I Am Not Resisting]

Awesome!  Thanks SW!

[Jester Harlot]

Whoa, epic win! I love that story!

[sergeantflynn]

Wot ! No animal skeletons ?

[HawkLord]

Wow great find. Isn't natural history amazing  

[ColoradoParanormal]

Pretty cool!

[Verneph]

Still Waters, on 22 February 2012 - 10:33 PM, said:

I've edited the OP to add another source link which has pictures.

Thanks SW!

This site looks amazing. By archaeological standards, the preservation of the plant life there is pristine.

Edited by Verneph, 23 February 2012 - 04:09 PM.

[King Fluffs]

Nice!

[The Black Ghost]

There is a similar site at a coal mine in Danville, Illinois, south of Chicago.

http://news.national...st-fossils.html

As an amateur paleontologist-enthusiast, I find these places fascinating. Too bad you really cant visit them. I'd love to see some of the specimens though.

[Robbie333]

Still Waters, on 22 February 2012 - 01:57 PM, said:

http://www.dailymail...c-ash-Wuda.html

     What a wealth of information we will learn about this period in time. Simply wonderful.

[Spectre1979]

I'd just like to say... COOL!