plant and animal fossils found in Tibet

I wasnt really sure where to put this and I couldnt find the topic under search so feel free to move it where it should belong.

esciencenews.com...

Fossils were found that should normally be found at much lower altitudes. The discovery may lead to revising how scientists approximate tectonic changes in the earths crust which leads to new formations.

a snippet

"Major tectonic changes on the Tibetan Plateau may have caused it to attain its towering present-day elevations -- rendering it inhospitable to the plants and animals that once thrived there -- as recently as 2-3 million years ago, not millions of years earlier than that, as geologists have generally believed. The new evidence calls into question the validity of methods commonly used by scientists to reconstruct the past elevations of the region."

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[edit on 12-6-2008 by Jbird]

Now that's interesting Because if the Tibetan Plateau only rose 2-3 million years ago that coincides rather well with the onset of the Pleistocene Glacial Epoch (which we're still in) - so uplift in that region could well have been instrumental in pushing Earth into it's current Ice House phase.

Of course, the same period also coincides with our ancestors coming down from the trees (probably as a result of climatic change in Africa) .... so maybe the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau is directly responsible for homo sapien!

That's pretty cool, but for some reason the link isn't working for me.

Just another example of how we have been wrong, and there is so much more to discover. Thanks for posting it.

reply to post by cheebay


Mate, that had nothing to do with what this thread is about, this is about the fossils uncovered by the earthquake. Take that to the political forum instead, please.

reply to post by Fibonacci11235


I look forward to seeing what Yang's new field studies this summer turn up. If the area WAS undergoing rapid orogony (a $25 term for "mountain building"), then there could be quite a bit of biodiversity going on there. That'd mean new bones for paleontologists... something they all love to get their hands on!