What Fossil Plants Disclose About Climate Change

by | Feb 15, 2023 | science | 0 comments

Photo by Paul Seling

Paleobiologists use fossil plants to reestablish Earth’s past climate and inform climate change research today. What fossil plants disclose is vital in learning about our world, its history, and the key to future discoveries.

Plants are the most underappreciated innovators in a world obsessed with human ingenuity—their ability to adapt sprouts from necessity. Plants cannot root elsewhere when faced with a sterile environment. A geologist once said that plants are the masters of taking what is available and using it to their advantage. These crafty inventors have evolved different characteristics in each habitat to help them survive. Over time, plants have left behind proof of those features in the fossil record. Paleobiologists can study this record to know more about plants, their surrounding environments, and how their settings changed over time.

Thus, if one can interpret plants’ changes over time, humans can sense what past climates were like and how they changed.

Fossil leaves as climate keys.

Typically, plants in warmer climates have larger leaves with smoother edges, while plants in cooler climates have smaller leaves with more jagged edges. If one has an assortment of fossil leaves from one place, you can get an idea of the temperature from the proportion of species with smooth edges. By comparing fossil plants with their modern-day relatives, humans can deduce what type of climate the plants were living in. 

Imprints of ancient ecosystems

Roughly 56 million years ago, during the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), Earth’s average temperature rose four to eight degrees Celsius in less than 10,000 years. The cause was geologic processes releasing trillions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The dramatic shift in global climate forced massive upheaval in ecosystems worldwide. It is the best analogy for the climate change humans are experiencing today.

Old plants, new ideas

Scientists nowadays use fossils to tell people what the climate was like long ago. Then climatologists run computer simulations of past environments. They can then compare the simulation results against the reconstructed weather to see if they agree. If a modern climate model can successfully forecast extreme past events like the PETM, then it is more likely to give accurate predictions on how the planet will respond to climate change today.

McLoughlin’s Book

If you are interested in the above information, check out the book A Guide to Pennsylvanian (Carboniferous) Age Plant Fossils Of Southwest Virginiaauthored by Thomas F. McLoughlin. This book is a picture guide to Paleobotany Fossil Plants and a few fossil marine organisms closely associated with the coal measures in the central Appalachian region. Groups sort the fossils, and the specimen’s sampling site locations are listed by coal seam horizon and geographic location. Short descriptions of each group of fossil types are provided, as well as explanations of the different groups of plants in as close to layperson’s terms as possible. This publication has been designed with the armature (rock hound) and a virtual guide for the more advanced collectors. There are 71 plates and over 300 pictures and illustrations, most of which are in full color.

Thomas F. McLoughlin

Thomas earned a Bachelor of Science degree while attending Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky. In December of 1979, he completed his Master of Science thesis in geology at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. Then in June 1980, Thomas joined the Health Administration (MSHA) and the U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety. He stayed with this agency as a geologist and coal mine inspector for twenty-eight years, collecting plant fossils in the coal mines and outcrops (road cuts) in southwestern Virginia and parts of West Virginia. For approximately twenty-six years, he taught introduction to geology courses at colleges in Cumberland, Kentucky, and Wise, Virginia. Mr. McLoughlin started in geology as a rock hound, collecting rocks, minerals, and fossils. He practiced lapidary work during high school and college, making jewelry from minerals and rocks. By the end of high school, he decided to become a geologist and attended college. His parents insisted that he leave home because his rock samples overtook it. Presently, he is a coal miner instructor.

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