A submerged forest is the in situ remains of trees, especially tree stumps, that lie submerged beneath a bay, sea, ocean, lake, or other body of water. These remains have usually been buried in mud, peat, or sand for several thousand years before being uncovered by sea level change and erosion and have been preserved in the compacted sediment by the exclusion of oxygen.[2] A forest can become submerged as the result of a lake or sea level rise that results in a lacustrine or marine transgression and in-place drowning of the forest. A submerged forest that lies beneath a lake can also be formed by the blockage of a river valley by either a landslide or manmade dam.
Examples
editThe examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the Anglophone countries and Europe and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (August 2019) |
Marine submerged forests may be regularly exposed at low tide; examples of these can be found at low tide on the fringes of the submerged landmass known as Doggerland,[3] around the coast of England and the coasts of Wales,[4] the Channel Islands,[3] north-west France and Denmark. One of the first recorded encounters with submerged forests was in 1892 off of the coast of Mablethorpe.[5] In some places, such as Blackpool Sands, Dartmouth, the remains are normally covered by sand and only rarely exposed.[6] During the storms of 1974 (see Penparcau)[7][8] and the winter storms of 2013–14 in the United Kingdom extensive remains of submerged forests were revealed in a number of places around the coast of Britain.[9][10] For example, researchers discovered a 10,000 year old submerged forest that used to be part of Doggerland following the storm of 2013.[11] There is also evidence that some submerged forests have disappeared over time as back in 1933, there were reports of a disappearing submerged forest off of the coast of Cheshire and Lancashire.[12]
As the North American Laurentide Ice Sheet began receding for the last time some 10,000 years ago, water levels in the future Great Lakes were sometimes much lower than at present. Forests once covered the southern end of what is now Lake Huron but as the glaciers melted and waters rose these forests were inundated and drowned. Today their remnants, well preserved logs and stumps, have been discovered in waters over 200 feet deep.[13][14]
A submerged forest was found in Nantucket Sound, off the coast of Massachusetts.[15] In 2012 a submerged bald cypress forest, which has been dated at around 60,000 years old, was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Alabama.[2] There have been attempts to make it into a marine sanctuary.[16]
Ecosystem
editSubmerged forests host a whole variety of flora and fauna. The submerged forest located off of the coast of Alabama near Dauphin Island has the bald cypress tree (Taxodium distichum).[17] Mantis shrimp, crabs, anemones, grouper, and red snappers are commonly found at this submerged forest, and of particular interest, due to their practical use in drug discovery, are shipworms.[18][19]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^
Reid, Clement (1913). Submerged Forests. Cambridge University Press – via Wikisource.
- ^ a b Holley, Peter (29 June 2017). "A mysterious underwater forest warns of Earth's rapidly changing climate". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- ^ a b Keith, Arthur (15 Aug 2004). "3". The Antiquity of Man. Anmol Publications Pvt Ltd. p. 41. ISBN 978-81-7041-977-8.
- ^ Campbell, J. A.; Baxter, M. S. (29 March 1979). "Radiocarbon measurements on submerged forest floating chronologies". Nature. 278 (5703). Nature Publishing Group: 409–413. Bibcode:1979Natur.278..409C. doi:10.1038/278409a0. S2CID 30855253.
- ^ M., M. H. (1892). "Submerged Forest". Nature. 46 (1180): 128. Bibcode:1892Natur..46R.128M. doi:10.1038/046128b0. ISSN 1476-4687.
- ^ Pengelly, W. (1869). Report and transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art. Vol. 3. Cornwall, UK: W. Brendon and Son. pp. 127–129.
- ^ Evans, J. G.; Limbrey, S.; Cleere, H., eds. (1975). The effect of man on the landscape: the Highland Zone. CBA Research Report.
- ^ "Tanybwlch submerged forest". Coflein. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
- ^ Owen, Cathy (21 February 2014). "In pictures: The Bronze Age forest revealed in more detail than ever before by Wales' brutal storms". Wales online. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
- ^ Lock, W. B. J. (20 February 2014). "Storms reveal ancient submerged forest at Portreath". West Briton. Local World. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
- ^ "Ancient underwater forest found off UK". BBC News. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
- ^ "Disappearance of Submerged Forests". Nature. 132 (3347): 961. 1933-12-01. Bibcode:1933Natur.132S.961.. doi:10.1038/132961c0. ISSN 1476-4687.
- ^ "Project Drowned Forest – A study of prehistoric undersater forests in Lake Huron, Michigan" (PDF). Vibracoring. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
- ^ "DFProject website". Vibracoring. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
- ^ Daley, Beth (6 November 2009). "Nantucket Sound may get new status". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
- ^ Rosa-Aquino, Paola (20 January 2021). "'One of a kind': Calls to protect Alabama's 60,000-year-old underwater forest". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
- ^ "Facies Reconstruction of a Late Pleistocene Cypress Forest Discovered on the Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf" (PDF).
- ^ Klein, JoAnna; Flanagan, Annie (2020-03-31). "A Forest Submerged 60,000 Years Ago Could Save Your Life One Day". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
- ^ "OER Updates: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research Fiscal Year 2018 Federal Funding Opportunity Grant Awarded: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research". oceanexplorer.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
Further reading
edit- An early work on this subject was: "Submerged Forests"., by Clement Reid F.R.S., published by Cambridge University Press in 1913.
- See also, for example, "Submarine Archaeology of the North Sea", published by English Heritage in 2004, ISBN 1-902771-46-X