Existing comment:
Reading the Rings:
Core samples from Sequoia affinis fossil stumps contain remarkably well-preserved annual growth rings. Locked within those concentric rings are clues about past growing conditions in the Florissant Valley.
The stumps of Florissant have greater average ring width when compared to modern-day redwoods in Southern California. This indicates that the redwoods of Colorado's past thrived in more favorable growing conditions than their modern counterparts on the foggy ridges along the California coast.
How do we know it's a redwood? Cone and leaf fossils of Sequoia affinis (ancient redwood), though smaller, are most similar to its descendant, Sequoia sempervirens (modern coastal redwood).
The cellular detail preserved by permineralization reveals similarities in the wood of the two species as well. It is the combination of all these factors that have led scientists to describe the fossil trees as Sequoia. |