By Xinhua
Hefei (China) : Chinese scientists have discovered a petrified forest believed to date back one to two million years in east China's Anhui province.
The 200-square-metre forest, in which the trees have turned into silica, was discovered in Xianyu Mountain in Dongzhi county.
Some of the trees stood as tall as 3.5 metres and were 1.2 metres in diameter, said She Xianbing, an official with Dongzhi tourism bureau.
Scientists with the Nanjing Institute of Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences says the forest is the fossilised remains of pine and cypress, China fir and apricot trees.
She says the forest will help scientists better understand the formation of the earth, prehistoric climate and vegetation.
The forest was buried in silica until recently. Rains washed away the top soil and exposed the remains of the trees.