Coral fossils found in central China-Xinhua

Coral fossils found in central China

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2024-04-02 15:32:00

This photo taken on March 20, 2024 shows coral fossils found in Yunxi County, central China's Hubei Province. (Hubei provincial academy of geological sciences/Handout via Xinhua)

WUHAN, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Researchers have found a large number of coral fossils dating back to some 350 million years ago in Yunxi County, central China's Hubei Province, which suggests that the Qinling Mountains were once a vast sea back then.

The fossils, of more than 10 coral species during the Devonian period, which was 419 million to 359 million years ago, covered an area of over 300-square-kilometer in the northwestern part of the county.

"All the findings suggest that the northwestern mountainous area of Yunxi was a marine reef at that time," said Zhao Bi, director of the paleontological fossil research center under the Hubei provincial academy of geological sciences.

The Devonian period was also the most important coral reef-building period on the Earth.

Yunxi Daliang, where the coral fossils were unearthed, is an important branch range of the Qinling Mountains. It runs from east to west between Hubei and Shaanxi provinces, with a total length of 60 kilometers, and is the geographical and climatic dividing line between the two provinces, according to Zhao.

This photo taken on March 20, 2024 shows coral fossils found in Yunxi County, central China's Hubei Province. (Hubei provincial academy of geological sciences/Handout via Xinhua)

This photo taken on March 20, 2024 shows Yunxi Daliang, where a large number of coral fossils were unearthed, in Yunxi County, central China's Hubei Province. (Hubei provincial academy of geological sciences/Handout via Xinhua)