of researchers according, the ancient fungus ‘Prototaxites’ may have dominated the environment rather than the trees. Its exact size is not known, but it is said that it must have been up to a height of about 30 feet.
According to the report, forest fires must have required fuel to last for a long time. Plants must do this work. In addition, enough oxygen is needed for lightning to start a fire and to keep the fire burning. According to researchers, the spread of fire and the presence of charcoal suggest that the level of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere was at least 16 percent then. However, the finding suggests that 43 million years ago, the level of oxygen in the atmosphere was 21 percent or maybe more.
According to scientific theory, increases in plant life and photosynthesis contribute to accelerating the oxygen cycle there during forest fires. Understanding the specifics of that oxygen cycle gives scientists a better idea of how life may have evolved.
Colby College paleontologist Robert Gastaldo, who was on the research team, said the Silurian region had enough vegetation to spread wildfires. Gastaldo said that at the time we were taking the sample, there was enough biomass. Suffice it to say that there were enough samples to start a forest fire.
The two sites chosen by the researchers for their research are estimated to have been on the ancient continents of Avalonia and Baltica. This discovery of scientists also breaks the record, according to which the oldest forest fires started 10 million years ago. Apart from this, it also emphasizes the importance of forest fires in the history of the earth.
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