![]() ![]() The team is now working to identify other mummified plants at the site, scanning the remains under microscopes to uncover any possible seeds or insect remains. The pollen came from only a handful of plant species, which suggests that Arctic biodiversity had begun to suffer during that time as well. That's why the growth rings show that they grew so little, and so slowly."Ĭolleagues at the University of Minnesota identified the wood from the deposit, and pollen analysis at a commercial laboratory in Calgary, Alberta revealed that the trees lived approximately 2 to 8 million years ago, during the Neogene Period. The trees would have had to endure half of the year in darkness and in a cooling climate. "Ellesmere Island was quickly changing from a warm deciduous forest environment to an evergreen environment, on its way to the barren scrub we see today. "These trees lived at a particularly rough time in the Arctic," Barker explained. The trees were at least 75 years old when they died, but spindly, with very narrow growth rings and under-sized leaves that suggest they were suffering a great deal of stress when they were alive. ![]() This summer, he returned with colleagues for a detailed study of the area.Īnalysis of the remains has only just begun, but will include chemical and DNA testing.įor now, the researchers have identified the species of the most common trees at the site - spruce and birch. He followed a tip from a national park warden, who had noticed some wood sticking out of the mud next to a melting glacier. "And because the trees' organic material is preserved, we can get a high-resolution view of how quickly the climate changed and how the plants responded to that change."īarker found the deposit in 2009, when he was camping on Ellesmere Island for an unrelated research project. When the climate began to cool 11 million years ago, these plants would have been the first to feel the effects," Barker said. "Mummified forests aren't so uncommon, but what makes this one unique is that it's so far north. Over the summer of 2010, the researchers retrieved samples from broken tree trunks, branches, roots, and even leaves - all perfectly preserved - from Ellesmere Island National Park in Canada. Joel Barker, a research scientist at Byrd Polar Research Center and the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State University and leader of the team that is analyzing the remains, will describe early results at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco on Dec. As the wood is exposed and begins to rot, it could release significant amounts of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere - and actually boost global warming. They also suspect that many more mummified forests could emerge across North America as Arctic ice continues to melt. ![]() Researchers believe the trees - buried by a landslide and exquisitely preserved 2 to 8 million years ago - will help them predict how today's Arctic will respond to global warming. ![]()
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