A rare fossilized reef limestone forest with a diverse collection of sea creature fossils was discovered recently in Lichuan, Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture in Hubei province. [Photo by Ning Qiong/for chinadaily.com.cn]
A rare fossilized reef limestone forest with a diverse collection of sea creature fossils was recently discovered in Lichuan, Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture in Hubei province.
According to the Hubei Institute of Geosciences, the finding is valuable for the development of cultural and tourism resources, biological evolution research, and oil and gas exploration.
The stone forest is on a hillside behind a residential house in Jiantian village. Unlike typical stone forests, its base is entirely composed of ancient sea creature fossils. The various mottled protrusions attached to the rocks are ancient marine biota, such as sponges, dating back approximately 250 million years.
According to Yu Haoyu, the technical director of the cultural and tourism resources survey in Lichuan, the fossilized reef limestone forest has large tube sponges and fossils of conches and cephalopods.
These fossils are diverse in form, well-preserved, large and complete, occupying over 90 percent of the rock, making them extremely rare in China, Yu said.
Jiantian village is situated in the deep mountainous forest between the Enshi Grand Canyon and the Tenglong Cave in Lichuan. The discovery of these fossils indicates that this area was once an ocean. Considering how rare it is for soft-bodied organisms like sponges to fossilize, researchers suggest that a geological phenomenon occurred at that time, instantly burying and preserving them.