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The ancient cypress forest found 60 feet underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, due south of Gulf Shores, Ala., is about 60,000 years old, says a team of scientists who have studied the site.
The forest appears to be a wholly unique relic of our planet’s past, the only known site where a coastal ice age forest this old has been preserved in place, with thousands of trees still rooted in the dirt they were growing millennia ago. It is considered a treasure trove of information, providing new insights into everything from climate in the region to annual rainfall, insect populations, and the types of plants that inhabited the Gulf Coast before humans arrived in the new world. Scientific analysis of the site is ongoing. One of the key things the forest might hint at is a world where the seas rose even more quickly than the worst-case predictions for the near future.
The work of the team investigating the site is detailed in the new documentary, The Underwater Forest, co-produced by This is Alabama and the Alabama Coastal Foundation.
You can watch the film above, on YouTube, or on This is Alabama's Roku and Apple TV apps. It will be broadcast on Alabama Public Television at 6 p.m. July 23rd and 9 p.m. July 24th. The film was written and directed by this writer, AL.com’s Ben Raines, who also filmed the underwater sequences and organized the first scientific missions to the site. It was narrated by Ian Thompson-Yates.
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The forest appears to be a wholly unique relic of our planet’s past, the only known site where a coastal ice age forest this old has been preserved in place, with thousands of trees still rooted in the dirt they were growing millennia ago. It is considered a treasure trove of information, providing new insights into everything from climate in the region to annual rainfall, insect populations, and the types of plants that inhabited the Gulf Coast before humans arrived in the new world. Scientific analysis of the site is ongoing. One of the key things the forest might hint at is a world where the seas rose even more quickly than the worst-case predictions for the near future.
The work of the team investigating the site is detailed in the new documentary, The Underwater Forest, co-produced by This is Alabama and the Alabama Coastal Foundation.
You can watch the film above, on YouTube, or on This is Alabama's Roku and Apple TV apps. It will be broadcast on Alabama Public Television at 6 p.m. July 23rd and 9 p.m. July 24th. The film was written and directed by this writer, AL.com’s Ben Raines, who also filmed the underwater sequences and organized the first scientific missions to the site. It was narrated by Ian Thompson-Yates.
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