Confirmed! 350 million years ago, the majestic Qinling Mountains were a vast ocean!

Fossils found in northwestern Hubei prove that Qinling Mountains were an ocean 350 million years ago

Recently, a research team from the Hubei Institute of Geological Sciences discovered abundant and typical Devonian coral fossils while conducting a geological survey in the northwest of Yunxi County, Hubei Province, providing important scientific evidence to prove that sea and land changes had occurred in the Qinling Mountains.

Zhao Bi, director of the Paleontological Fossil Research Center of Hubei Institute of Geological Sciences, said that the coral fossils discovered in Yunxi this time are mainly found in the pink crystal and fine-grained limestone marine strata of the middle and late Devonian period, involving more than 10 types of corals. It is reported that the Devonian coral fossils discovered this time are mainly complex coral types, with a large area of ​​more than 300 square kilometers, showing the characteristics of large-scale ancient marine reef construction.

Ancient Great Barrier Reef

"The mountainous area in the northwest of Yunxi County was an 'ancient Great Barrier Reef' 350 million years ago." Zhao Bi told reporters that corals are the oldest marine organisms on Earth and one of the most famous marine reef-building organisms. The Devonian period is an important period in Earth's history, dating from 419 million to 359 million years ago, and is also the most important coral reef-building period in Earth's history.

Scientific research has confirmed that there were at least five coral reef belts in the ocean during the Devonian period that were more than 2,000 kilometers long (currently only the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is 2,011 kilometers long on Earth). Especially in the middle Devonian period (393 million years ago - 382 million years ago), due to the suitable climate, global coral reef-building activities reached the largest scale in Earth's history. The paleontological database shows that the global distribution range of coral reefs at that time was from 50° north latitude to 40° south latitude, and 13 giant coral reefs with a length of more than 1,500 kilometers have been discovered in the world, far exceeding the current Earth.

Rich coral types

The coral fossils discovered in this survey in Yunxi are mainly found in the pink crystal and fine-grained limestone marine strata of the middle and late Devonian period (about 400 million to 360 million years ago). The types of corals are very diverse. Preliminary observations have identified more than ten species, including curved corals, Alay corals, Chinese corals, cut corals, honeycomb corals, channel corals, through-hole corals, and crested corals.

The significance of coral fossils

Devonian coral fossils have great scientific significance for the study of global paleogeography, paleoclimate, evolution of paleo-marine ecosystems, and protection of marine coral reefs and ecosystems. Their research has long been highly valued by the geology, paleontology, and environmental protection communities around the world, and many innovative results have emerged. For example, by studying the growth patterns of Devonian corals, some scholars have discovered that there were more than 400 days in a year.

The large-scale discovery of coral fossils in Yunxi not only shows that the Qinling Mountains were once submerged by a large area of ​​sea water before they were formed, but also shows that the area was once an important area for ancient corals to build reefs on a large scale in shallow waters.

The site where the coral fossils were discovered is located in Yunxi Daliang, also known as Hubei Daliang. It is an important part of the Qinling Mountains. It stretches from east to west between Hubei and Shaanxi provinces, with a total length of 60 kilometers. It is the geographical and climatic dividing line between the two provinces.

Comprehensive sources: Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily Online, etc.