3D Tree Fossils Older Than Dinosaurs Shed Light on Bizarre Prehistoric Forests

A tree fossil from 352 million years ago was discovered in Canada and is unlike anything that researchers have ever seen in the past.

Ancient Trees

What also makes this finding extraordinarily rare is that, in contrast to the majority of tree fossils, it reveals the possible look of the overall form of the tree. In most cases, only tree trunks fossilize. This does not reveal the canopy or overall appearance of the tree.

Currently, what is known about vital ancient arborescence periods, or tree development, is widely based on roots and stumps that remained preserved within rock. There could also be scattered branches and leaves that were squeezed flat between stone and mud layers.

3D Tree Fossils

Now, a 2.3-meter-long stone block kept in the New Brunswick Museum of Canada was found to have notable exceptions. This offers researchers a 3D view of the prehistoric species that sprouted around 15 million years following the appearance of the first tree-like flora.

The block was dug from the quarry in New Brunswick in 2017. It was able to preserve the remnants of five plants that are branching and growing closely. It presents top leaf arrangements in great detail.

Geologist Robert Gastaldo from Colby College, who led the fossil's investigation, explains that the way the tree was able to produce remarkably long leaves around its trunk and the sheer number over the trunk's short length come as a surprise.

While the appearance of palm trees comes after a few hundred million years, the plant's radiating leaves have been classified as belonging to the Sanfordiacaulis densifolia species. The tree was described in the "Enigmatic fossil plants with three-dimensional, arborescent-growth architecture from the earliest Carboniferous of New Brunswick, Canada" study.

As the Devonian allowed the entry of the Carboniferous, plants that are vaguely acknowledged as Ginkgo, cycads, and conifers ended up emerging and proliferating. It is more challenging to know more about the enigmatic plants in this period based on details that are scant.

Gastaldo explains that the tree fossil they report is distinct and has an odd form of growth. It is one of the experiments of evolution in a period where plants in forests went through biodiversification. It also appears to be a short-lived form.

It is believed that the small grove could have been smothered because of a tremor that ended up burying plants and vegetation within fine mud.

According to the researchers, the height of three trees could have gone up to almost three meters or even higher. Its thick leaf arrangement could have extended two to three meters from its trunk in order to form a volume-dense foliage crown that could go up to 30 square meters.

Similar to other trees that vie for light under the canopies of thick forests, this species could have evolved its own anatomy in order to mop up the highest possible radiation while larger flora dwarfs it. These pristine, long-extinct vegetation samples of ecosystems that are developing tested novel conditions and environments for survival. This offers researchers a better picture of the approach taken by evolution.

Gastaldo explains that forms, shapes, growth architectures, and life histories all go through various strategies and trajectories. The geologist adds that rare fossils like this serve as one example of what colonized the Earth but ended as an unsuccessful experiment.

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