Buried for tens of thousands of years, a wild underwater forest is now baring its leaves in the Gulf of Mexico, offering divers a rare look at an even rarer ecosystem.
Called the Bald Cypress forest, the underwater woodland covers an area of 0.5 square miles and lies 60 feet beneath the water's surface several miles off the coast of Mobile, Ala. Research shows that it has been buried underneath ocean sediment for over 50,000 years in an oxygen-free environment. The forest, according to Ben Raines, one of the first divers to explore the area and executive director of the Weeks Bay Foundation which studies estuaries, was most likely unearthed by Hurricane Katrina back in 2005.
"Swimming around amidst these stumps and logs, you just feel like you're in this fairy world," Raines told LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.
Carbon dating revealed the underwater bald cypress trees, which can live for thousands of years, are an incredible 52,000 years old. Researchers are hoping that secrets about the Gulf's climatic history could be locked away in the ancient tree trunks. To find out, however, scientists will have to act fast, before marine life chews away at the newly-uncovered organic feast.
"The longer this wood sits on the bottom of the ocean, the more marine organisms burrow into the wood, which can create hurdles when we are trying to get radiocarbon dates. It can really make the sample undatable, unusable," Grant Harley, a professor at the University of Southern Mississippi who studies tree ring, told LiveScience.
The Bald Cypress forest was discovered by a local dive shop owner, who was eventually persuaded by Raines to reveal the location of the mysterious new spot teeming with fish. Subsequent dives by Raines and other researchers confirmed that this was an underwater forest with a rich history.