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		</div><p>The oldest fossil forest in Asia has been discovered in the walls of clay quarries in China.</p>
<p>Researchers say it is the largest example of a Devonian forest, made up of 250,000 square metres of fossilised lycopsid trees.</p>
<p>The forest, which covers an area the equivalent of 35 football pitches, is believed to have existed between 359 and 419 million years ago.</p>
<p>It is the earliest example of a forest in Asia, according to the study published in the Current Biology journal.</p>
<p>The discovery was made near Xinhang in China’s Anhui province.</p>
<p>Lycopsids found in the forest resembled palm trees, with branchless trunks and leafy crowns, and grew in a coastal environment prone to flooding.</p>
<p>They were normally less than 3.2m (10ft 6in) tall, but scientists estimate the tallest was 7.7m (25ft 3in) – taller than the average giraffe.</p>
<p>Giant lycopsids would later define the Carboniferous period, which followed the Devonian, and become much of the coal that is mined today.</p>
<p>Two other Devonian fossil forests have been found – one in the United States, and one in Norway.</p>
<p>Deming Wang, a professor in the School of Earth and Space Sciences at Peking University, said: <em>“It might also be that the Xinhang lycopsid forest was much like the mangroves along the coast, since they occur in a similar environment and play comparable ecologic roles.”</em></p>
<p>The fossilised trees are visible in the walls of the Jianchuan and Yongchuan clay quarries, below and above a 4m (13ft) thick sandstone bed.</p>
<p>Some of them included pine cone-like structures, and the diameters of the trunks were used to estimate the tree heights.</p>
<p>The authors acknowledged that it was difficult to mark and count all the trees without missing anything.</p>
<p>Prof Wang added: <em>“Jianchuan quarry has been mined for several years and there were always some excavators working at the section.</em></p>
<p><em>“The excavations in quarries benefit our finding and research. When the excavators stop or left, we come close to the high walls and look for exposed erect lycopsid trunks.”</em></p>
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