386 Million Year old Fossil Trees Found in New York

One of the World’s most old Fossil Trees roots are found at Cairo forest site in New York.

Charles Ver Straeten at the New York State Museum discovered the fossils near Cairo in the Catskill region of New York. Three types of trees were found in the forest. One of them, of the Archaeopteris genus, had roots up to 11 metres long. These are similar to modern coniferous trees and were the first to have evolved flat green leaves.

The plants played a role in the development of life on Earth, helping to cool the planet. Studying the fossils could help us with modern climate change, says Sandy Hetherington at the University of Oxford. It was more than 10 years ago that experts from Cardiff University, UK, Binghamton University in the US and the New York State Museum began looking at the site in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in the Hudson Valley.

Source :- Newscientist