Underwater Ancient Cypress Forest Offers Clues to The Past
Published:06 Jun.2021 Source:Louisiana State University
When saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths and giant sloths roamed North America during the last Ice Age about 18,000 to 80,000 years ago, the Gulf Coast's climate was only slightly cooler, more similar to regions to the north like Missouri and North Carolina's climate today. As sea level dropped and exposed more land on the continental shelf, bald cypress trees became established in swamps in what is now the northern Gulf of Mexico.
An event occurred and suddenly killed and buried the bald cypress forests along the Gulf Coast. The buried swamp trees were preserved by sediment for thousands of years. About 18,000 years ago, sea level rose. As the ocean waters moved inland, the buried trees were preserved in their former swamp sediments. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan cut a path across the region and exposed a preserved ancient bald cypress forest.