Scientists UNCOVER a 60,000-year-old forest UNDERWATER...
Apr 10, 2020 2:49:23 GMT
mecano04 likes this
Post by RiP, IMDb on Apr 10, 2020 2:49:23 GMT
and think its PRESERVED trees MAY help PIONEER new medicines!!
Nearly 60,000 years ago, as prehistoric humans just started venturing out of Africa, a forest of cypress trees grew on the banks of a river near the Gulf of Mexico. As the trees grew old, they fell and were buried under sediment. When the sea level rose, the remains of the forest were covered once again.
Now, scientists have uncovered that same forest and believe it may hold the secrets to creating new medicines and saving lives.
For millennia, the ancient forest remained undisturbed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which published an article about the forest last week.
But in 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit the Gulf Coast, sweeping up the seabed and sediment that kept the forest entombed.
Since then, the site, which now lies 60 feet underwater off Alabama's coast in Mobile Bay has been visited by a few scientists and filmmakers. But it wasn't until December that a team of scientists from Northeastern University and the University of Utah set out on an expedition funded by NOAA to dive into the waters and bring back pieces of wood to study.
Brian Helmuth, a professor of marine and environmental sciences at Northeastern University, was one of the scientists who dived in.
"It was a really nice day. Pretty calm on the surface and we were expecting it be equally nice on the bottom," Helmuth told CNN. "But we got to the bottom and it was like diving in chocolate milk. We literally could not see our hands in front of our faces."
The conditions were less than ideal and the fact that previous dive teams saw a lot of sharks in the area made the expedition somewhat risky, but when the scientists finally reached the forest, they were in awe.
"It was really amazing. We dove around the edge of this ancient river bed. On our left were these remains of giant stumps and pristine wood coming out of the bank embankment," Helmuth recalled. "Even though the visibility wasn't great, you could pretty easily imagine it being the edge of a cypress forest and it was almost an eerie feeling of stepping back in time."
Despite the wood being 60,000 years old, it was extremely well-preserved because it had been buried under layers of sediment that prevented oxygen from decomposing it.
Now, scientists have uncovered that same forest and believe it may hold the secrets to creating new medicines and saving lives.
For millennia, the ancient forest remained undisturbed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which published an article about the forest last week.
But in 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit the Gulf Coast, sweeping up the seabed and sediment that kept the forest entombed.
Since then, the site, which now lies 60 feet underwater off Alabama's coast in Mobile Bay has been visited by a few scientists and filmmakers. But it wasn't until December that a team of scientists from Northeastern University and the University of Utah set out on an expedition funded by NOAA to dive into the waters and bring back pieces of wood to study.
Brian Helmuth, a professor of marine and environmental sciences at Northeastern University, was one of the scientists who dived in.
"It was a really nice day. Pretty calm on the surface and we were expecting it be equally nice on the bottom," Helmuth told CNN. "But we got to the bottom and it was like diving in chocolate milk. We literally could not see our hands in front of our faces."
The conditions were less than ideal and the fact that previous dive teams saw a lot of sharks in the area made the expedition somewhat risky, but when the scientists finally reached the forest, they were in awe.
"It was really amazing. We dove around the edge of this ancient river bed. On our left were these remains of giant stumps and pristine wood coming out of the bank embankment," Helmuth recalled. "Even though the visibility wasn't great, you could pretty easily imagine it being the edge of a cypress forest and it was almost an eerie feeling of stepping back in time."
Despite the wood being 60,000 years old, it was extremely well-preserved because it had been buried under layers of sediment that prevented oxygen from decomposing it.