3 ms·

Interesting it was in the UK, I was expecting Australia or Quebec where I think geological finds tend to be much older.

by jmclnx 3y ago

dredmorbius 3y ago
Terrestrial life is young relative to the Earth. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. The forest described here is between 358 and 419 million years old, or rather less than one-tenth of Earth's total age. Australian and Canadian shield formations date back as far as 4.4 billion years. That far exceeds any dry-land life, let alone fully-developed forests. <https://opengeology.org/historicalgeology/case-studies/earths-oldest-rocks/ https://opengeology.org/historicalgeology/case-studies/earth...> At best you might find stromatolite beds, remnants of ancient cyanobacteria growing in mats in shallow seas: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite> The formations in which the UK fossils are found were at the time of their formation linked with the ancient Appalachian range, parts of which remain now in north Africa, the eastern US, Spain, France, Britain, Germany, Poland, and Czechia. The Appalachians themselves are older than terrestrial life, which is to say, older than dirt (which is itself comprised of organic matter). There's a river which flows through the Appalachians which is older than the mountains themselves. It is of course named the New River: <https://eos.org/features/the-new-river-gorge-ancient-river-old-mines-new-national-park https://eos.org/features/the-new-river-gorge-ancient-river-o...>
- sandspar 3y ago
  Apropos of nothing but flowers evolved at about the same time as Tyrannosaurus Rex, so you can imagine a T-Rex walking through a field of wildflowers at sunrise, its legs wet with flowers' dew.
  - vundercind 3y ago
    No evidence of grass before the very tail end of the Cretaceous, either.
  - dredmorbius 3y ago
    And, as the response to your comment notes, grass evolved only very late in the age of the dinosaurs. When you think of the most prevalent varieties of terrestrial plant life on Earth today, particularly agricultural crops (wheat, rice, maize, all grasses), much of it is very recent evolutionary developments, and of that, vastly further developed by artificial selection and hybridisation by humans. Legumes are also flowering plants, and seem to date back roughly 79--74 mya: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabaceae#Evolution,_phylogeny_and_taxonomy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabaceae#Evolution,_phylogeny_...>
- sriacha 3y ago
  Do you recommend any books on this theme? IE evolution of terrestrial life, geology, etc. Would like to learn more. I've greatly enjoyed 'The Vital Question' by Nick Lane a few years ago.
  - dredmorbius 3y ago
    Not offhand, though Nick Lane's books come highly recommended and are on my own rather expansive reading pile.... David Christian's "Big History" looks at the past through large frame, and includes the concepts of which I'm discussing. Otherwise, I've pieced together my understanding from many sourcesl

Interesting it was in the UK, I was expecting Australia or Quebec where I think geological finds tend to be much older.

by jmclnx 3y ago

Interesting it was in the UK, I was expecting Australia or Quebec where I think geological finds tend to be much older.

Terrestrial life is young relative to the Earth. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. The forest described here is between 358 and 419 million years old, or rather less than one-tenth of Earth's total age. Australian and Canadian shield formations date back as far as 4.4 billion years. That far exceeds any dry-land life, let alone fully-developed forests. <https://opengeology.org/historicalgeology/case-studies/earths-oldest-rocks/ https://opengeology.org/historicalgeology/case-studies/earth...> At best you might find stromatolite beds, remnants of ancient cyanobacteria growing in mats in shallow seas: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite> The formations in which the UK fossils are found were at the time of their formation linked with the ancient Appalachian range, parts of which remain now in north Africa, the eastern US, Spain, France, Britain, Germany, Poland, and Czechia. The Appalachians themselves are older than terrestrial life, which is to say, older than dirt (which is itself comprised of organic matter). There's a river which flows through the Appalachians which is older than the mountains themselves. It is of course named the New River: <https://eos.org/features/the-new-river-gorge-ancient-river-old-mines-new-national-park https://eos.org/features/the-new-river-gorge-ancient-river-o...>

sandspar 3y ago
Apropos of nothing but flowers evolved at about the same time as Tyrannosaurus Rex, so you can imagine a T-Rex walking through a field of wildflowers at sunrise, its legs wet with flowers' dew.
- vundercind 3y ago
  No evidence of grass before the very tail end of the Cretaceous, either.
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  And, as the response to your comment notes, grass evolved only very late in the age of the dinosaurs. When you think of the most prevalent varieties of terrestrial plant life on Earth today, particularly agricultural crops (wheat, rice, maize, all grasses), much of it is very recent evolutionary developments, and of that, vastly further developed by artificial selection and hybridisation by humans. Legumes are also flowering plants, and seem to date back roughly 79--74 mya: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabaceae#Evolution,_phylogeny_and_taxonomy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabaceae#Evolution,_phylogeny_...>
sriacha 3y ago
Do you recommend any books on this theme? IE evolution of terrestrial life, geology, etc. Would like to learn more. I've greatly enjoyed 'The Vital Question' by Nick Lane a few years ago.
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  Not offhand, though Nick Lane's books come highly recommended and are on my own rather expansive reading pile.... David Christian's "Big History" looks at the past through large frame, and includes the concepts of which I'm discussing. Otherwise, I've pieced together my understanding from many sourcesl