Scientists Find World’s Oldest Fossil Forest

Scientists have discovered the world’s oldest forest in an abandoned quarry near the town of Cairo, New York.

Key Features

• Previously, scientists thought a fossilized forest in Gilboa, New York, was the earliest, but the one in Cairo is two or three million years older and dramatically different.
• The 385-million-year-old rocks contain the fossilized woody roots of dozens of ancient trees. The find marks a turning point in Earth’s history.
• When trees evolved these roots, they helped pull carbon dioxide from the air and lock it away, radically shifting the planet’s climate and leading to the atmosphere we know today.
• The discovery ....