Lesbos’ petrified forest was formed 20 million years ago when a volcano exploded in the north of the island, covering the entire area with ash and lava. The area, which covers 15,000 hectares, is known for its vibrant and colorful petrified tree trunks.
Nickolas Zouros, a professor of geology at the University of the Aegean, excavated the petrified forest ecosystem, but told CNN he had never discovered such a find.
“We have a lot of findings over these years, but the latest is the most important – really extraordinary,” he told CNN on Thursday.
Experts discovered the large tree, which measured 19.6 meters (21.4 meters) – complete with branches and a root system – during an excavation along the Kalloni-Sigri highway.
“This is not something that happens very often during excavations,” Zouros said. “We usually find stumps without branches and roots.
“It’s the only thing found in the excavation with the branches, the root system, and was found on a layer full of leaves – we have all the organs of the tree in the regional system. It’s so far unique – we have all 25 years dug up and never found such a tree, ‘he said.
Conifers, fruit-producing trees, sequoia trees, pine, palm, cinnamon and oak trees are among the specimens unearthed in the petrified forest.
“These trees show that the climate in the vicinity of Lesbos has changed – this tree is subtropical. The climatic conditions were subtropical 20 million years ago when the tree was destroyed by the volcanic eruptions. Nowadays by studying this flora – the petrified forest – “We can have an idea of how climate change is affecting the ecosystem,” Zouros said.
Zouros told CNN that vegetation showed that half of the species once found on the island had become extinct.
“They could not survive climate change,” he said. “This is important information we can use to explain to visitors that climate change has serious consequences for the species that live here, for modern ecosystems.”
In addition to the ‘extraordinary’ tree, experts have discovered more than 150 logs at another site, about 200 kilometers from where the entire tree was discovered.
“The new find by Professor Zouros is astonishing,” Chronis Tzedakis, a professor of physical geography at University College London, who was not involved in the excavation, told CNN.
“It is extremely rare to pick a tree with its branches, roots and leaves, while 150 trunks recycled together provide a unique one-time snapshot that allows us to assess the biodiversity of the ecosystem.”
Tzedakis added: “More generally, although there are several petrified forests around the world, Sigri is extraordinary because different trees are found in their original position, with their root systems intact. It offers a rare glimpse of a Miocene forest, in terms of the size and density. “
The excavation during which the tree was found was completed in January, Zouros said.