The heady aroma of magnolia blossoms and lotus flowers might have wafted to your nostrils if you had gone for a walk 56 million years ago in the lush green forest which covered Canada’s northernmost islands.
Now covered in ice and snow, present-day Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands in Nunavut were once home to a vibrant, temperate forest, according to fossil research just published by University of Saskatchewan (USask) scientists.
“It’s very surprising how similar these ancient polar forests were to some of our modern forests. I identified fossil plants related to many modern temperate trees: birch, alder, elms—even plants belonging to the grape family. Some of the fossils are related to trees now found only in east Asia,” said paleobotanist Christopher West, a recent USask PhD graduate.
“The presence of these forests gives us an idea about what could happen over long periods of time if our modern climate continues to warm, and also how forest ecosystems responded to greenhouse climates in the distant past,” said West.
West examined more than 5,000 fossil samples to develop the only comprehensive analysis of fossil plants ever undertaken from the Canadian Arctic.
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Image via University of Saskatchewan
