ScienceDaily has a post about a Devonian forest discovered in Norway.  The fossil forest was found in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.  It dates to the late Devonian Period, 380 million years ago.  At that time, Svalbard was at the equator.  This find gives scientists insight into the climate change that occurred at this time, which might be a cause to the Devonian mass extinction events.

The fossil forests, with tree stumps preserved in place, were found in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago situated in the Arctic Ocean. They were identified and described by Dr Chris Berry of Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Ocean Science.

Prof John Marshall, of Southampton University, has accurately dated the forests to 380 million years.

The forests grew near the equator during the late Devonian period, and could provide an insight into the cause of a 15-fold reduction in levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere around that time.

Current theories suggest that during the Devonian period (420-360 million years ago) there was a huge drop in the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere, thought to be largely caused by a change in vegetation from diminutive plants to the first large forest trees.

Forests pulled CO₂ out of the air through photosynthesis — the process by which plants create food and tissues — and the formation of soils.

Although initially the appearance of large trees absorbed more of the sun’s radiation, eventually temperatures on Earth also dropped dramatically to levels very similar to those experienced today because of the reduction in atmospheric CO₂.

Because of the high temperatures and large amount of rainfall on the equator, it is likely that equatorial forests contributed most to the drawdown of CO₂. Svalbard was located on the equator around this time, before the tectonic plate drifted north by around 80° to its current position in the Arctic Ocean.