Near Xinhang Town, Anhui Province, China, a Devonian forest consisting of 250,000 square meters of lycopodium fossils was discovered. Huashilin, which is bigger than Central Station, is the earliest forest in Asia.

Researchers from Peking University, China University of Mining and Technology, Linyi University and other institutions published a paper in Contemporary Biology on August 8, describing the largest Devonian forest discovered in Asia so far.

Devonian is the fourth stage of Paleozoic, with geological age ranging from 4./kloc-0. 90 million years ago to 359 million years ago, among which Taleq fish is the most famous. Taleq fish is a freshwater creature that lived 375 million years ago. It is considered as a transitional animal between aquatic animals and terrestrial animals, and now it has become extinct. Although Devonian is called "the age of fish", it also witnessed the evolution of plants.

The researchers said that the Lycopodium found in Xinhang forest area is similar to palm trees, with branchless trunk and leafy crown, and grows in the coastal environment prone to floods. Most of them are less than 3.2 meters tall, but the highest estimate is 7.7 meters, which is higher than the average height of giraffes.

The giant lycopodium was later defined as a Carboniferous plant, that is, the period after Devonian, which gradually evolved into most of the coal mined today. The new Hangzhou forest records the early roots that may need to make the Lycopodium reach this height. In addition, two Devonian fossil forests have been discovered: one in the United States and one in Norway.

"The large density and small size of trees make the new Hangzhou forest very similar to sugarcane fields, but the distribution of plants in the new Hangzhou forest is scattered." Wang Deming, a professor at Peking University Earth and Space College, said, "The new Hangzhou forest may also be very similar to the coastal mangroves, because they grow in similar environments and play similar ecological roles."

The researchers found these tree fossils in a clay quarry, which were distributed above a 4-meter-thick sandstone layer. Some fossils contain megaspores with pine cone structure, and researchers use the diameter of fossil trunk to estimate the height of trees. They say it is difficult to mark and count all the trees without omission.

Because the quarry has been mined for many years, excavators have been working here. However, the excavation of quarries is conducive to the discovery and research of fossils. When the excavator stops or leaves, the researchers will look for the bare upright lycopodium trunk near the rock wall.

"It is remarkable to constantly discover new in-situ tree fossils. As the old saying goes, the best is always the next one. " Wang Deming said.