‘Holy Fumes’: huge trunk believed to have 50 million years discovered in the NWT mine

A wooden trunk that is believed to be 50 million years has been dragged from the ground in the Diavik Diamond mine in the NWT – a discovery that researchers say that it is remarkable but not rare.

In a post on The Discovery on Facebook last week, the mine described it as a 136 kilograms trunk (300 pounds) from a sequoia tree that found 240 meters below the ground. In one and -mail, a Diavik spokesman said he was discovered on February 20 during regular extraction in Fossa A21 while the miners were collecting the Kimberlite mineral.

Diavik is located in the tundra on Lac de gras about 300 kilometers north -east of Yellowknife.

“The Kimberlite rock from which the wood was recovered was dated about 50 million years using techniques accepted for age dates,” they said. “Consequently, the materials encapsulated in the Kimberlite rock, including this wood, are understood of the same age.”

The spokesman said that pieces of wood are regularly recovered from the Kimberlite tubes of Diavik, but this is remarkable due to its size. They said that when the wood is found in Kimberlite, the work is paused so that it can be removed safely.

“This discovery is significant, as it offers a rare look at the distant past, enriching our understanding of the ancient environment. It also highlights how mining extraction operations can contribute to research and scientific knowledge,” wrote the spokesperson.

They did not say exactly what would happen with the discovery, but they said that Diavik “preserves” the wood he found, previously sent pieces for the study and that he would “discussed the future management of these specimens” while the mine approaches closing.

The Heritage Prince of Wales-The Museum and the archives for the NWT-Government already a piece of wood of 55 million years from a Metasequoia tree found in Diavik on display, and another of the nearby Ekati Diamond mine who believed he was 52 million years inside his stored collection.

An online record Since Ekati’s trunk states that Metasequoia was a common swamp plant at the time and that when a volcano of Kimberlite broke out, the remains of the tree collapsed in the upper part and was enclosed in the Kimberlite rock. “It is the real wood, not mineralized or petrified,” reads the voice.

A spokesman for the Department of Education, Culture and Work of the Territory said Tuesday that the museum had not spoken to Diavik on his recent discovery.

Another canon Alberto Reyes, associate professor at the Department of Earth Sciences and the atmosphere of the University of Alberta, said he had contacted Diavik – and is interested in obtaining a tree champion.

“It’s a truly extraordinary discovery,” he said. “I have already seen that kind of things before, but also Sante smokes that it is a huge trunk.”

Reyes, co -author of a recent document on the tests of Palms in the NWT 48 million years agoHe said he was interested in finding out what setting the register was recovered.

He said that scientists know that 50 million years ago the region would have been a wet Forest Forestry ecosystem with Metasequoia, Hazel, Chestnut and Oak trees.

“He would almost look like Nashville, in Tennessee, from a climatic point of view.”

But this paints a large picture of the Earth at that moment, Reyes said, while studying this tree just discovered could produce more specific information.

“The ability to examine the climatic variability of year by year in depth during a period of … our story in which it is much warmer than in the Arctic would be truly fascinating. We do not yet have great management on this.”

Is ancient wood still real wood?

Reyes and Christopher West, the curator of Paleoboany at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, agree that the tree is probably about 50 million years old.

West said there are two ways in which the mine may be understood how many years are its Kimberlite tubes: a method is to look at fossil pollen in the area, which reveals which type of plants were growing at the time and anchors the material in a certain period. The other involves the study of a layer of ash that could be present.

West said it is also “common enough” to find fossil trunks with straight ends that seem to have been cut with a chainsaw.

He said that when there are floods or an event in which many sediments are deposited, a dead tree can be partially covered. “In the end the tree detaches and the aspects of it will be scraped and smooth,” he said.

West states that the tree may have been preserved through for mineralization – a type of fossilization that would make the tree difficult to touch – or through coalification – a process that transforms the plant material into coal, in which case it could still seem a little woody.

Reyes, however, suspects that the register discovered recently can still be wood, at least inside. He examined specimens from similar settings – like a piece of wood of a Kimberlite tube in the NWT in 2007 – which seemed charred only outside.

It meant that Reyes and a colleague were able to do chemical tests to try to reconstruct the climate at that moment.

“This was my first type of finger that immersed in the world of … diamond mines and ancient climate in NWT and we continued to go from there.”