Pompeii find reveals plants flourished before dinosaur extinction
Researchers found 77 fruit and seed types in volcanic ash, showing flowering plants were already producing large fruits 10 million years before dinosaurs vanished.
- American scientists discovered 77 types of fossilized fruits and seeds within New Mexico's Jose Creek Formation, revealing a 'botanical Pompeii' from nearly 75 million years ago.
- Previously, researchers believed flowering plants, or angiosperms, remained small and weedy until the dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago, but the new findings show they were flourishing 10 million years earlier.
- Berkeley Professor Cindy Looy noted the preservation is 'unique,' as ashfall trapped the forest canopy and floor, revealing fruits comparable to large blueberries rather than poppy-sized seeds.
- These angiosperms represent 90% of today's land plants, and the findings suggest they were co-evolving with animals to disperse seeds well before the age of mammals.
- Lead author Jaemin Lee stated this evidence confirms angiosperms invested resources into larger reproductive strategies earlier than previously thought, rewriting evolutionary history during the Late Cretaceous.
57 Articles
57 Articles
Plants with flowers lived with dinosaurs for millions of years, developing sophisticated reproductive strategies long before the impact of the asteroid that caused the great extinction 66 million years ago. The discovery, based on fossils of 74.6 million years discovered in New Mexico, changes the view on the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems and reveals that tropical forests were already complex and highly biodiverse before the disappearance …
The flowers did not emerge on Earth after the extinction of the dinosaurs, they were there long before. This means an unexpected turn in the evolutionary history of our planet. The appearance of the flowers , in fact, was much more than just an aesthetic addition, it was one of the most extraordinary and transformative biological milestones in the whole history of life. Since their eruption, these plants completely redesigned continental ecosyst…
Flowering Plants Flourished Before Dinosaur-Extinction Asteroid Impact
Fossils uncovered in New Mexico’s Jose Creek Formation provide groundbreaking evidence that angiosperms (flowering plants) established dense, fruit-bearing forests around 75 million years ago—9 million years prior to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that eradicated the dinosaurs. This discovery challenges longstanding evolutionary theories regarding the rise of angiosperms as the dominant plant group on Earth. Reconstruction [...] The post Flo…
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