As happens6:32Ancient forest discovered by the ice melted in the rocky mountains
A forest of almost 6,000 years see the light of day again after the hidden millennia under ice in the rocky mountains.
A team of scientists from the State University of Montana, the United States Geological Service and collaborating institutions discovered the old white bars pine forest while in an archaeological survey on the Beartooth plateau in Wyoming, thanks to the temperatures of warming that melted the ice that covered it before.
“We were very surprised to find a forest that was emerging from the margins of the ice … it was incredible,” he told Cathy Whitlock, a professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at Montana State University. As happens Host Kӧksal.
The Whitlock team was able to find about 30 trees about 3,000 meters above sea level, which is 180 meters higher than the existing tree line. His research was published In the magazine reviewed by pairs, minutes of the National Academy of Sciences December 30, 2024.
Whitlock says that while it is an exciting discovery, it is bittersweet. The only reason why they could make this discovery is because of the melted ice patch.
“I am excited because it is a window in the past. It tells us what this high elevation environment was like 6,000 years ago,” Whitlock said.
“But as a person who cares about the future and climate change and how these alpine areas will be seen for my grandchildren, it makes me really sad. These ice patches are melting and probably will not be there in a few more decades.”
What they learned
To find out how many years the trees were, Whitlock and his team used a tool that certainly did not exist when the trees first rooted. Using chainsaws to cut slabs, they were able to carbonize the date of the old trunks looking at the rings inside the trunks.
That revealed that the trees ranged from 5,950 and 5,440 years ago, and also gave them information about the climate in which the trees would have lived.
“It was a fairly well developed forest. These were not the type of disheveled trees you see in Treeline. These were high -level trees,” Whitlock said.
She says that about 5,000 years ago, the weather began to cool and an ice patch was developed. The ice would have killed the trees, leaving them buried by the developing ice patch.
Professor Colin Larroque, who specializes in the age estimate of the trees, says that this is a surprising reminder of how fast the climate is changing.
“We see how quick .
Next steps
This is not the first discovery in North America. In western British Columbia, The fusion of ice has revealed old forests along the mountains of the coast.
In Wyoming, Whitlock says there is more work to do. His team will continue to look through the ice patch, examining ice chemistry to learn how the weather has changed over time.
“There are many things that we do not know about these high elevation forests and how they will respond in the future,” he said.
Whitlock says that what they have learned so far shows the power of climate change and how easily the world can change as the temperature is heated or cool.
“It makes me appreciate how sensitive these high elevation environments are,” Whitlock said. “We can move from the tundra to the forest with only a small amount of heating. Therefore, it is very, very sensitive to climate change.”
She says that as the temperature is heated now, this forest can return one day and it is likely that the current line line will move to a higher elevation. With it, the area will lose an important source of water.
“One thing that seems quite clear is that we are going to lose our snow lay Whitlock said.
“As the weather changes, we will lose that water source and will only be part of the reason why the West is becoming drier and will continue to dry.”
