Researchers have unearthed a forest in northern China preserved under a layer of ash deposited 300 million years ago, the BBC reported.

Preservation of the forest was found west of the Inner Mongolian district of Wuda.

"It's like Pompeii," said study co-author Hermann Pfefferkorn of the University of Pennsylvania in the U.S. "Pompeii gives us deep insight into Roman culture, but it doesn't say anything about Roman history in and of itself. But on the other hand, it elucidates the time before and the time after. This finding is similar. It's a time capsule and therefore it allows us now to interpret what happened before or after much better."

The researchers were able to "reconstruct" nearly 1,000 square meters of the forest's trees and plant distributions. The excavations sampled three sites across a large expanse that was covered with about a meter of ash.

Due to the pristine preservation of some of the plants, the team estimates the ash fell over the course of just a few days, felling and damaging some of the trees and plants under its weight but otherwise keeping them intact.

The team identified six groups of trees, ranging from low-lying tree ferns to now-extinct 25-meter trees Sigillaria and Cordaites, as well well-preserved specimens of another extinct group called Noeggerathiales.

(China.org.cn, CNTV February 24, 2012)

据英国广播公司报道，研究人员在中国北部发现一片由一层火山灰3亿年前掩埋的森林。

森林遗址发现于内蒙古乌达地区以西。

该研究的作者之一，来自美国宾夕法尼亚大学的赫尔曼•菲佛克隆说：“它犹如庞贝城。庞贝城让我们深入了解了罗马文化，但城中没有体现出罗马历史和自身的历史。但另一方面，它阐明了该时间前后的状况。该项发现类似。它是一个时间仓，因此我们现在可以更好地解释之前和之后发生的事情。”

研究人员“复原”了近1000平方米树木和植被的分布情况。发掘工作挑选了一片宽阔地区的3处地点，该地区覆盖着约1米厚的火山灰。

由于一些植物保存状态原始，科研组估计，火山灰散落了仅几天，压坏了一些树木和植被，然而在其它方面却将它们完好地保存下来。

科研组辨认出了6类树，有低矮的树蕨，有现已灭绝的25米高的封印木和科达木，还有保存良好并已灭绝的匙叶目物种。