90 million years ago, Antarctica was a thriving tropical forest
Fossil evidence of an ancient rainforest has recently been discovered in West Antarctica. A thriving temperate rainforest grew in West Antarctica about 90 million years ago, according to a new study, based on newly discovered fossil roots, pollen and spores.
In early 2024, the oldest fossil forest ever discovered, dating back 390 million years, was discovered in southwest England
Exceptionally preserved plant fossils of 350 million-year-old strange bushy trees have been discovered in southeastern Canada. In the UK, researchers have discovered a fossil forest of small, palm-like trees and arthropod tracks dating back to the Middle Devonian. Petrified trees discovered by chance in southwest England belong to the oldest known forest on Earth, a new study has found. The 390-million-year-old fossils displace the 386-million-year-old Gilboa Fossil Forest in New York state as the oldest known forest in the world.