Ancient Alabama Swamp Found Submerged in the Gulf of Mexico

[Irene]

Some fishermen were very lucky many times over. Divers, interest piqued, decided to investigate, and scientists descended on the site.

Salvagers want a piece of the action, but the scientists are fighting them and winning. With any luck, this ancient coastline, now inundated by the Gulf of Mexico, will become a protected marine area.


A Mysterious Underwater Forest Warns of Earth's Rapidly Changing Climate

PETER HOLLEY, THE WASHINGTON POST
17 JUL 2017

The accompanying film, which is excellent (27:28 min) -



http://www.sciencealert.com/a-mysterious-underwater-forest-warns-of-earth-s-rapidly-changing-climate

The discovery began with a rumour about a fishing "honey hole" somewhere off the Alabama coast where the red snapper was plentiful.

By the time Ben Raines - an environmental reporter for the Mobile Press Register - heard about the location, the rumour had evolved.

Apparently, a local dive shop owner told him, the fish were congregating around an underwater forest peeking out of the sediment 60 feet below the surface.

Raines spent months persuading the man to take him to the secret location 10 miles offshore, an effort that paid off in 2011 as soon as Raines got his first glimpse of the forest.

"It was like entering a fairy world," he told The Washington Post. "You get down there, and there are these cypress trees, and there are logs lying on the bottom, and you can touch them and peel the bark off."

"It was an otherworldly experience where you knew you were in this ancient place," he added.

How ancient exactly? That was the question Raines and researchers from Louisiana State University and the University of Southern Mississippi were determined to answer when they began dating chunks of wood at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory using radiocarbon dating.

The expectation, researchers said, was that the trees would end up being around 10,000 years old. Nobody expected to find out that the trees were about five times that age, Kristine DeLong, a paleoclimatologist at Louisiana State University, told The Post.

More at the link.....

[ArMaP]

Interesting, but I think it's more likely to be the result of geological processes than climate change.

[Irene]

Interesting, but I think it's more likely to be the result of geological processes than climate change.

The shoreline receded, likely due to glaciation, so it's both.

[ArMaP]

The shoreline receded, likely due to glaciation, so it's both.

What I was thinking was that if it was a global thing, like glaciation, it would be more common. A less common or rare situation points to a local event.

But, obviously, all effects are added to reach the final result.

[Irene]

What I was thinking was that if it was a global thing, like glaciation, it would be more common. A less common or rare situation points to a local event.

But, obviously, all effects are added to reach the final result.

Well, it's happened elsewhere. Alexandria, Egypt, off the coast ofJapan, Bimini, Italy, the North Sea. Shorelines have receded leaving mega-/monolithic sites and other things under seawater.

[ArMaP]

Well, it's happened elsewhere. Alexandria, Egypt, off the coast ofJapan, Bimini, Italy, the North Sea.

Sure it has happened elsewhere, but most of the names you posted are on seismic areas.

Shorelines have receded leaving mega-/monolithic sites and other things under seawater.

I know, I'm not one of those people that say that climate doesn't change, I just think that the title is too much on the climate change side, and, as usual, I get suspicious when I see titles like that.

[Irene]

Sure it has happened elsewhere, but most of the names you posted are on seismic areas.
I know, I'm not one of those people that say that climate doesn't change, I just think that the title is too much on the climate change side, and, as usual, I get suspicious when I see titles like that.

ArMaP, that's what it is, an ancient cypress swamp inundated by the Gulf. It's ten miles offshore and 60 feet deep.

Divers are able to delineate the path of the swamp around the stumps of the trees.



Oh, oops, I see what you mean. Never mind. 

It's climate change of some kind though.

[thorfourwinds]

50,000-year-old trees intact on the sea floor?

We would like to see a picture of the cypress, as we have intimate knowledge of those trees, thanks to Katrina, Gustav and Ike, among others.

[Irene]

50,000-year-old trees intact on the sea floor?

We would like to see a picture of the cypress, as we have intimate knowledge of those trees, thanks to Katrina, Gustav and Ike, among others.

You can see them in the video, which is very detailed.

[micjer]

Very informing video.

So if we humans lived 50000 years ago and paid carbon taxes and signed a Paris Agreement, could we have changed the outcome of a warming earth?

[Sgt.Rocknroll]

Sea levels change. They happen over time. They go up, they go down.
Man has nothing to do with it.
So there are cypress knees and stumps on the bottom of the Gulf. Big deal.
Just watch an episode of Axe Men, with Shelby Stanga. He pulls up whole trees from the Pontchartrain all the time...
Somebody needs some research grants......

[Irene]

Sea levels change. They happen over time. They go up, they go down.
Man has nothing to do with it.
So there are cypress knees and stumps on the bottom of the Gulf. Big deal.
Just watch an episode of Axe Men, with Shelby Stanga. He pulls up whole trees from the Pontchartrain all the time...
Somebody needs some research grants......

Sorry I'm not up to snuff on the research angle. I have a problem with attention span. I read an article, get excited for five minutes, then move on.

I've watched Shelby, but only in small doses. He's nuts and dangerous and I can only take so much of the same thing over and over.

One season of "Ax Men" would have sufficed.

As far as what is out there in the Gulf, don't shoot the messenger. I shared an article I thought was interesting, for five minutes, and thought others might like to read it.

Irene 
From Under My Rock

[Sgt.Rocknroll]

And don't take offense at my opinion, as with certain body parts, everyone has one. Lolol

[zorgon]

Interesting, but I think it's more likely to be the result of geological processes than climate change.

Are you a climate change denier?

Change in climate creates ice ages... ice ages create glaciers ...  glaciers carve up the land (ie great lakes)... climate change melts ice age...   its an ongoing cycle of rising waters and receding waters.

Still doesn't make new discoveries boring

[zorgon]

So there are cypress knees and stumps on the bottom of the Gulf. Big deal.

Somebody forgot to take their Grumpy Pill