FOXSYLVANIA

– – Roughly 298 million years ago, a volcano erupted in the Inner Mongolian district near the modern-day city of Wuda, China raining down volcanic ash with such intensity that a forest was quickly buried and essentially preserved in remarkable detail down to branch and leaf structure. American and Chinese  scientists have recently excavated this lost forest, ironically through coal mining activities in the region. 

The preserved forest of about 11,000 square feet gives researchers the unique opportunity to examine an ecosystem essentially frozen in time by a natural disaster dating back to when the earth had only one giant landmass known as Pangaea.  Scientists have worked with artist Ren Yugao to capture how the sites may have looked at the time…