Fossil forest, a picnic & sunflowers...
Steve wanted to explore somewhere new, so we headed to Southern Umbria and the Dunarobba Fossil Forest. The first photo is what the guidebook promised, the second is what we found.
All the trees here belong to a family of Sequoia which grew more than one million years ago on the shore of a huge lake that is no longer here. The uniqueness of this forest is that the trees lay in vertical position and not horizontally as is the case for other fossil forests. This would confirm the theory that a flood could have overwhelmed the forest preserving it in the shape we admire today. The fossils have large dimensions: 4' in diameter and between 15' and 30' high.
It was an interesting explore followed by a picnic overlooking a spectacular valley. While meandering through the Umbrian countryside, we found a field of rogue sunflowers. This rare sighting of still vibrant flowers made us stop and pick a few. Our drive home was through the most exciting summer storm of hail, lightening and thunder! A remarkable end to a wondrous day.
This forest was discovered in the 1970s, with excavations still happening currently. As you can see by the 'tents' they are trying to preserve what they've uncovered thus far. Fossil wood is the "preserved remains from the remote past" or fossil record. Over time the wood is the part of a plant that is best preserved (and most easily found). Fossil wood may or may not be petrified.
It was an interesting explore followed by a picnic overlooking a spectacular valley. While meandering through the Umbrian countryside, we found a field of rogue sunflowers. This rare sighting of still vibrant flowers made us stop and pick a few. Our drive home was through the most exciting summer storm of hail, lightening and thunder! A remarkable end to a wondrous day.
1 comments:
I cannot believe the weather you have been getting! I wish we were having summer storms. How exciting.
Yes, the fossils would have been much cooler uncovered BUT now you can check the Dunarobba off of your places to visit. Surely most people will not have that crossed off their list. :)
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