Covering more than .5 square miles in the deepest waters of the Gulf of Mexico, divers have uncovered an enormous Cypress forest.
It will probably be destroyed in just a few years by wood-burrowing
marine life now that it has been exhumed from numerous layers of
sediment, but experts believe this hidden arbor, now being called the Bald Cypress Forest,
is more than 52,000 years old. The Cypress are so well preserved that,
when scientists took the thinnest cut to determine their age, you could
still smell the scent of fresh Cypress sap.
Local fishermen found a
site near the coast of Alabama that was particularly full of fish and
other marine life. They weren’t quite sure why. Suspecting that there
might be something hidden under the Gulf water’s surface, the fisherman
confided in a dive shop owner who eventually decided to look into the
deeper waters in person to see what he could find. The diver discovered
an extraordinary underwater forest but refused to disclose the location
for years. He told another diver, named Ben Raines, but swore him to
secrecy in 2012. The forest has become an artificial reef - a habitat
for all kinds of fish, crustaceans, anemones, and various marine wildlife. The layers of sediment covering the forest had been protecting the reef by creating an oxygen-free environment.
Raines broke his silence
and put together a team of a few scientists to create a sonar map to
measure the breadth of the forest and also took samples to try to date
the trees. The age given to the underwater forest, 52,000 years, will
likely help scientists learn more about the climate during the Wisconsin
Glacial period, when sea levels were much lower than they are today.
The Wisconsin glaciation extended from approximately 85,000 to 11,000 years ago.
A researcher from
Louisiana State University, Kristin DeLong, will dive the site this year
to explore it more completely. Another team of scientists is applying
for grants, but they will need these grants to be awarded expeditiously
since a dendrochronologist (someone who determines the age of trees by
their rings) says the forest will probably only remain for two years
before being devoured by sea organisms.
This is yet another
underwater discovery that proves we know less about our own deep seas
than we might have imagined. Other recent finds include a first century B.C. stonecutter, submerged DNA in Greece, a possible crashed UFO between Finland and Sweden in the Baltic Sea, and pyramids of glass found in theBermuda Triangle.
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