A documentary "The Underwater Forest" of researchers pursuing the mystery of the "Ancient Forest" that sinks to the ocean floor is on sale

The hurricane that arrived in 2004 revealed that the "forest" that existed during the ice ages remained in the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico. Despite tens of thousands of years passed, the trees keep their shapes firmly and when brought back to the land they said the sap like the "tree just cutting now" smelled like sap. The seabed forest now functions as a shelter of the creatures of the sea, but why researchers' efforts, such as why the ancient forest was sinking into the seabed, how long ago the ancient forest was, was on YouTube It is open to the public as a movie of about 30 minutes.

The Underwater Forest - YouTube


"Forest" exists about 24 km off the land in the southern part of the US and Alabama state, where the water depth of the Gulf of Mexico is about 18 meters.


The stump is sinking at the bottom of the ocean.



Some of the stumps are still rooted in mud. Thousands of trees are seen as existed fifty thousand years ago, far before the pyramids can be built in Egypt.


Speaking of forests, they are primarily full of birds and insects, but now they have become fish and sea ginkgo's gods.



These trees have the same roots as that of Itusugi growing in the Gulf of Mexico.


However, the ocean floor of the Gulf of Mexico is like a desert, but there are starfish and jellyfish, but it is not a state called "forest" on the ground. So, why was only "Forest" born in a place 24 km away from the shore? And how did you discover "Forest" that appeared suddenly in the offing?


The beginning of the thing had the greatest power among the observation historyHurricane EybensIt is in Hurricane Eybang hit the Gulf of Mexico in 2004, totaling 94 dead people, destroying many buildings.


After Evan leaves, Chas Broughton who runs the diving shop receives a message saying "There is a place where you can catch fish easily". And what is going on in the sea? When I tried to diving the place where I got the report, I heard that there was a forest on the ocean floor.


The trees that were sleeping under the mud appeared by stirring the seabed by the hurricane. Mr. Broughton says that such a sight was the first time in the diving life of 25 years.


After that, Mr. Chas informs the journalist Ben Ryan and tells about the forest that exists at the bottom of the ocean.


The forest on the ocean floor is functioning as a shelter of creatures as if it were a coral reef.


Octopus lives in the tree ......


Normally it is full of colorful fish that can only be seen in caves and rocky areas. Such a state is extremely unusual.


There is also a sea turtle in the forest. When Mr. Ryan wrote an article, the existence of the forest of the ocean floor instantaneously went over the internet, and mail arrived from researchers all over the world including Japan and China. There was also an offer to salvage trees to use for coffee table and guitar, Ryan and others decided to keep the information secret and protect the forest in order to avoid destroying the forest for the purpose of money That's right.


At the same time, Ryan and colleagues contacted researchers around the world and started researching by bringing researchers to the forest. Martin Becker, a paleontologist familiar with ancient shark teeth and fossils, was one of the early researchers.


Mr. Beck usually digs out the fossils in the land, but as soon as the survey started, I was crazy about the sea bottom forest.


At that time, there was also a happening that we encountered real sharks.


According to Becker, in the days when dinosaurs were still alive, many of the places present as land now sank below the water. Therefore, shark teeth may come out when digging land soil. Similarly, the forest of the ocean floor at a place far from land has once existed as a land due to the change of the water level of the sea, so the forest remained on the seabed.


The Earth experienced the ice ages from roughly 40,000 to 100,000 years, and the water level on the sea surface has also changed.


In the era of dinosaurs the climate is warm and many of the land in the US is believed to have sunk under the sea.


On the other hand, when the temperature falls in the Ice Age, the water level drops due to glacier effect. The most recent ice ages visited from 12,000 to 18,000 years ago, and the sea level was about 122 meters lower than now.


As a result, the banks of the Gulf of Mexico at that time were 48 kilometers outside the present.


From this, it seems that the sea floor forest, which existed at this time, fell into the ocean floor due to the rise of the water surface. However, the researchers believe that the forest of the ocean floor is derived from the glacial age about 50,000 years ago, even more than the latest ice age.


About the ages of the trees, paleoclimatologist Christine Deongong investigated, information gradually became clear.


About the thing that first dives in the ocean floor, "At first glance, it seems that earth and sand is precipitating, but when I touched the ground it turned out that the trees overlapped many layers "Mr. De Long said. It seems that trees have been folded all the way down to the tree not only visible on the surface. Since the seabed was excavated by Hurricane Eybang in 2004, the trees are exposed all the time at the ocean floor, so it should have already deteriorated if normal, but ititgi is more durable than ordinary trees Sometimes it is strong, leaving shape.


Mr. Deong, who screws instruments to the trunk of the tree. The surface of the tree is damaged by seawater and living things, but the center is untouched. So we collected the center of the treeRadioactive carbon datingBy examining with, you can tell how far the tree is before.


With this kind of feeling, we gathered thin wooden pieces of wood.


In addition, the wood piece taken out of the mud by Deong Mong is like this. It is in a state that it retains its shape to the extent that it is unlikely that it is tens of thousands of years ago. This is because the anoxic state was created as the trees sink into the mud and the decomposition by the microorganisms was not done.


Some wood pieces were lifted from the seabed for research. I actually cut it.

Annual ring chronologyMr. Gran Haley says it is "much better condition than I thought".


It is said that a groove is formed on the surface of the wood piece due to contact with animals and insects. Also, from the state I understood that the trees were under stress due to environmental factors.


This time, I am trying to raise a big tree with the help of a balloon.


I carefully raised the tree to the sea ... ...


I was too heavy that I could not lift it to the top of the ship.


It was necessary to cut trees in the water unavoidably. For Mr. Hurley, this is the last opportunity to touch the entire stump.


For the first time with this dive, fragments of ancient trees will be brought back to the laboratory.


So the wood piece was brought back to the research facility at the University of Southern Mississippi where Ms. Hurley works.


Carefully dry the pieces of wood ......



As I cut it, it smelled like a resin as if I cut a brand new tree.


Surprisingly it was surprised that the sap which seeped out when cutting a piece of wood was thousands of years ago. And despite the previous thing, it was that the wood fiber was firmly visible.


Also, looking at the microscope, there are variations in the cell size of the current Itoksugi, but ititusugi collected from the bottom of the ocean floor had the same cell sizes. This shows that Ituggi of that time grew up in a totally different environment and climate from the modern environment we know.


When I first went to the ocean floor, it was thought that the trees were from 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, Ms. Deong. However, as examined by radioactive carbon dating method, it was shown that the trees were of 42,000 years ago.


Delong is watching whether trees have existed between 50 thousand and 60 thousand years ago because there is a limit to the age that can be measured by radioactive carbon dating method, but in any case, it is accurate Age is not known when the movie is released.


The sea level of the earth repeatedly increased and decreased rapidly from 40,000 to 42,000 years ago and it was not stable. Pelagic scholars and others like to know about how the changes in these environments affected the ecosystem, how the Itosugi forest responded to changes in the environment. I would like to reveal how the trees changed by being exposed to many environmental stresses by investigating the trees sinking in the forest of the ocean floor. By doing so, we are hoping for a hint as to what kind of environmental change can happen to the planet and how we can respond.