Question
A Snapshot in Time
Earth and Space Science Studies: Dynamics of Earth's Structure
Southern Vermilion County, Illinois, seems like an odd place to find a grouping of trees, let alone a rainforest. After all, the area is covered in windswept flatlands. Yet that is where coal miners working near Georgetown have unearthed the remains of a fossilized rainforest.
The rainforest, which is more than 200 feet (61 meters) below ground and just above the Riola and Vermilion Grove coal mines, dates back 307 million years to the ancient Pennsylvania Age. At 15 square miles (24 square km), it is the largest continuous rainforest from that period ever studied.
"We never encountered one whole forest preserved in one shot like this," said Scott Elrick of the Illinois State Geological Survey. "The fossils just didn't stop."
The fossils are the remains of one of the world's first rainforests. During the Pennsylvania Age, when the forest was alive, vast rainforests, swamps, and deltas covered much of the eastern and midwestern U.S. Their plant life, along with their climates, created conditions that were ideal for the formation of coal. Since the region's coal formed from the decomposed vegetation of ancient rainforests, it is common to find small pockets of fossilized plants just above coal mines.
However, the case of the Vermilion rainforest is unique. That's because at some point, experts say, a fault line that runs through the area triggered a major earthquake. The quake quickly sank the forest beneath a layer of mud and preserved it.
"What [scientists are] looking at is very rapid preservation of this forest," said Ian Glasspool, who works at Chicago's Field Museum and is not involved in the research. The rapid preservation allowed plant tissue to be maintained in great detail, rather than being broken down over time. "It's a snapshot in time. That's what makes it exciting," Glasspool said.
Elrick and researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Bristol in Great Britain discovered the forest in the early 2000s. They started working in the mines, driving deep underground in armored vehicles and then walking along miles of seven-foot-high (2.1-meter-high) passages. The team members spent most of their time looking up to where they predicted the fossils of the ferns, mosses, and trees were located. That's because ancient vegetation is now coal.
Having discovered the remains of the ancient plant life, scientists have a picture of what the area was like when the rainforest still thrived. It was basically a jungle, Elrick said, but with larger plants and mosses as big as trees. The weather was very different from the temperate climate that Illinois residents are accustomed to today.
"It would be hot, extremely humid, really uncomfortable to be standing around there," Elrick said. "Something out of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World."
Researchers did not find much evidence of animal life, but they uncovered the remains of a eurypterid. This six-foot-long, lobster-like creature would have crawled out of the Absaroka Sea. The body of water covered parts of the continent at various periods in ancient times.
Elrick and the other researchers continued documenting what was above the Vermilion County mines. They drew and took pictures, made notes, and studied slabs of rock retrieved from the mine. Now, the mines are sealed, and part of the fossil chamber has collapsed.
"Unfortunately, it will never be a 'visitable' museum," Elrick said. He added that the scope of the forest would make it difficult to describe it to the public with words and pictures. "We try to document to the best of our ability what we see and take notes.... It's sort of like asking people to go to New York City and describe every storefront in a day."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Question 5
5 / 8
According to the article, why is the discovery of the Vermilion rainforest significant?
Because it led to the discovery of a previously unknown eurypterid
Because it proved that some plants are able to withstand climate change
Because the coal mines prevented the forest from breaking down over time
Because the rapid preservation of the forest maintained plant tissue in detail
Earth and Space Science Studies: Dynamics of Earth's Structure
Southern Vermilion County, Illinois, seems like an odd place to find a grouping of trees, let alone a rainforest. After all, the area is covered in windswept flatlands. Yet that is where coal miners working near Georgetown have unearthed the remains of a fossilized rainforest.
The rainforest, which is more than 200 feet (61 meters) below ground and just above the Riola and Vermilion Grove coal mines, dates back 307 million years to the ancient Pennsylvania Age. At 15 square miles (24 square km), it is the largest continuous rainforest from that period ever studied.
"We never encountered one whole forest preserved in one shot like this," said Scott Elrick of the Illinois State Geological Survey. "The fossils just didn't stop."
The fossils are the remains of one of the world's first rainforests. During the Pennsylvania Age, when the forest was alive, vast rainforests, swamps, and deltas covered much of the eastern and midwestern U.S. Their plant life, along with their climates, created conditions that were ideal for the formation of coal. Since the region's coal formed from the decomposed vegetation of ancient rainforests, it is common to find small pockets of fossilized plants just above coal mines.
However, the case of the Vermilion rainforest is unique. That's because at some point, experts say, a fault line that runs through the area triggered a major earthquake. The quake quickly sank the forest beneath a layer of mud and preserved it.
"What [scientists are] looking at is very rapid preservation of this forest," said Ian Glasspool, who works at Chicago's Field Museum and is not involved in the research. The rapid preservation allowed plant tissue to be maintained in great detail, rather than being broken down over time. "It's a snapshot in time. That's what makes it exciting," Glasspool said.
Elrick and researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Bristol in Great Britain discovered the forest in the early 2000s. They started working in the mines, driving deep underground in armored vehicles and then walking along miles of seven-foot-high (2.1-meter-high) passages. The team members spent most of their time looking up to where they predicted the fossils of the ferns, mosses, and trees were located. That's because ancient vegetation is now coal.
Having discovered the remains of the ancient plant life, scientists have a picture of what the area was like when the rainforest still thrived. It was basically a jungle, Elrick said, but with larger plants and mosses as big as trees. The weather was very different from the temperate climate that Illinois residents are accustomed to today.
"It would be hot, extremely humid, really uncomfortable to be standing around there," Elrick said. "Something out of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World."
Researchers did not find much evidence of animal life, but they uncovered the remains of a eurypterid. This six-foot-long, lobster-like creature would have crawled out of the Absaroka Sea. The body of water covered parts of the continent at various periods in ancient times.
Elrick and the other researchers continued documenting what was above the Vermilion County mines. They drew and took pictures, made notes, and studied slabs of rock retrieved from the mine. Now, the mines are sealed, and part of the fossil chamber has collapsed.
"Unfortunately, it will never be a 'visitable' museum," Elrick said. He added that the scope of the forest would make it difficult to describe it to the public with words and pictures. "We try to document to the best of our ability what we see and take notes.... It's sort of like asking people to go to New York City and describe every storefront in a day."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Question 5
5 / 8
According to the article, why is the discovery of the Vermilion rainforest significant?
Because it led to the discovery of a previously unknown eurypterid
Because it proved that some plants are able to withstand climate change
Because the coal mines prevented the forest from breaking down over time
Because the rapid preservation of the forest maintained plant tissue in detail
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The discovery of the Vermilion rainforest is significant **because the rapid preservation of the forest maintained plant tissue in detail**. This allowed scientists to gain a unique and detailed insight into what the rainforest was like during the Pennsylvania Age, providing a "snapshot in time."