Earthsky.org- 7/25/13, Deanna Conners
There are large stumps, roots and logs from an ancient bald cypress forest about 60 feet (18 meters) below the surface of the water, near coastal Alabama. Image via Ben Raines/AL.com
Scientists are exploring a submerged forest of bald cypress trees off the coast of Alabama in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Katrina is thought to have uncovered it. Earlier in 2013, they announced that the forest is much older than originally thought. An early speculation was that the submerged trees were between 8,000 and 12,000 years old. The newer estimate dates the submerged trees from about 50,000 to 80,000 years ago. The submerged forest provides evidence that coastal Alabama has risen between 60 and 120 feet (18 to 36 meters) in the last 50,000 years. Scientists are now hoping to sample the ancient forest to understand what climate conditions were like along the Gulf coast during that time in Earth’s history.
A local fisherman first noticed the unusual spot in the Gulf of Mexico a few years ago. He saw that fish were abundant in the area and speculated that some sort of structure must exist on the sea floor. Fish and other marine life tend to congregate around hard structures beneath the sea, such as coral reefs and sunken ships.
