Underwater forest: Ancient cypress forest buried off Alabama's coast

Underwater Cypress Forest (Source)

If this was already covered my apologies, ATS search is not allowed on my work comp as it classifies it as occult and porn...

Additionally I did paruse the Fragil Earth threads to see if I can find a similiar thread~

Scuba divers have discovered a primeval underwater forest off the coast of Alabama.

The Bald Cypress forest was buried under ocean sediments, protected in an oxygen-free environment for more than 50,000 years, but was likely uncovered by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said Ben Raines, one of the first divers to explore the underwater forest and the executive director of the nonprofit Weeks Bay Foundation, which researches estuaries.

The forest contains trees so well-preserved that when they are cut, they still smell like fresh cypress sap, Raines said.

I think this is fetching amazing! I do have a problem with disturbing the eco system... I know... "In the name of Science"~! So a freshly uncovered hidden forest that was covered with sedement appears in pristine condition after Katrina but did anyone know??? Someone did~

Closely guarded secret
Raines was talking with a friend who owned a dive shop about a year after Hurricane Katrina. The dive shop owner confided that a local fisherman had found a site teeming with fish and wildlife and suspected that something big was hidden below. The diver went down to explore and found a forest of trees, then told Raines about his stunning find.

But because scuba divers often take artifacts from shipwrecks and other sites, the dive shop owner refused to disclose the location for many years, Raines said.

In 2012, the owner finally revealed the site's location after swearing Raines to secrecy. Raines then did his own dive and discovered a primeval cypress swamp in pristine condition. The forest had become an artificial reef, attracting fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and other underwater life burrowing between the roots of dislodged stumps.

Some of the trees were truly massive, and many logs had fallen over before being covered by ocean sediment. Raines swam the length of the logs.

"Swimming around amidst these stumps and logs, you just feel like you're in this fairy world," Raines told LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

I feel that it was kept a secret for good reason as well. Who would want to notify anyone of this beautiful habitat teaming with life??? If not letting the goose out of the bag will utlimately turn this primeval habitat into a circus convention for scientists to go poking and proding something that just needs to be left alone.

I only left out a couple paragraphs from the orginal source and only included the meat of the find. I found this really interesting and phenominally awesome and would love to hear what ATS thinks about this!

Should we poke and prod this undisturbed habitat?

Should we investigate to possibly uncover new medicines?

How cool is it that Katrina's Killer waves uncovered this and was being kept a secret by only a few?

Have fun ATS!~

This was posted last year, didn't get much attention.

Ancient forest submerged in Gulf off Ala coast

Hopefully my husband & I will be headed to that area later this summer. We have an acquaintance there that does fishing charters, I'm going to ask if he knows of the area.

Very cool!

reply to post by OneisOne


Oh wow~ I woulda thought it definately would have received more attention and that is awesome your gonna see it in person!

Weird... Google news must be a little slow... It only showed this being posted 12-18hrs ago... But posted last year on ATS.... THIS IS A CONSPIRACY~

reply to post by sulaw

Well I'm not a diver, so I won't be seeing it. But maybe the charter boat captain knows the area for the fishing.

It will be interesting to see just how "secret" the area is.

reply to post by OneisOne


I'm not one to dive in large bodies of water... Or go on big cruise ships... Something about it just "FREAKS" me to all end... However the fishing~ HOYBOI!!! I wish I could hit this honey hole up! If it's what they say, then it's teaming with all sorts of fish! Biggins! Rod Breakers! Make your heart beat out of your chest fish!

I dig it! And when you go, I hope you have the most amazing trip and time!

reply to post by sulaw


Must be at a gov computer, I get the same blocked site message!

There must be a fortune down there.
Antique old growth logs are worth a fortune.
There are many companies getting rich off recovering logs from rivers and lakes that were used to float logs to mills before trains or trucking were available.

My cousin was involved in harvesting logs from the Mississauga River and lake Huron in Northern Ontario
and told me many of these logs were worth thousands of dollars.

What an economic opportunity.

reply to post by Beartracker16


I totally understand where your coming from. As it would be a jackpot of a find for furnishing's from the trees that are so pristinly preserved... However we would have never known a place like this existed unless the Katrina Waves didnt' uncover that sediment for us... And now it seems to me that it's a natural habitat for the fishies~ That's like destroying the great barrier reef in my opinion...

I think this should be preserved... We've done enough damage to the oceans... Sure we can get some expensive furnishings from the trees.... But that's only temporary.... This habitat can sustain life for 10's-1000's of years if left alone to flourish...

Now I wouldn't be opposed if some of the trees dislodged over time and we then took them for furnishing but not purposly going down and uprooting them for a quick buck~

Maybe it's just me....

reply to post by sulaw
The Gulf of Mexico holds many secrets. Somewhere within the last few years someone did a thread about a fresh water lake deep beneath the waters of the Gulf, though I don't know how to find it- search is not my friend!

reply to post by littled16

Ohhhh!!

The brine pools!!! Love that topic!

reply to post by littled16


ATS search function really isn't that user friendly... Totally agree~

I'm just amazed that stuff like this keeps "popping up" out of nowhere and then as if some form of fairy magic **Whammo** Ancient Ruins unscathed are found or new Giant Crystal Chambers, and obviously what was stated in the OP... Seems to me that there is more down in the water worth searching for than for us to be trying to traverse the preverbial "Heaven's".

If we don't know everything about our planet yet what's the point in moving to another rock? We need some new technologically advanced submersables that would allow us to check this stuff out indefinately... To me this is a bigger find that the "Titanic" by a long shot!

reply to post by OneisOne


What a great video~ So much abundance of life down there and I'm still left wondering how much "don't" we know about it.

Thank you for sharing this video

reply to post by sulaw


I understand your position.
These sites are rare and wonderful. My post illustrates why they have been reluctant to publicize the location of this forest.
It is a treasure that should be preserved as long as possible.
It needs,however, to be heavily documented.
This site, like many shipwrecks over the years, have been exposed by a storm and another good storm could cover it back up again.

reply to post by sulaw
I am also amazed by how little we know about what lies beneath our own oceans and seas. We have the technology to travel into space but have yet to invent technology that can withstand the pressure of deep water exploration, or at least much of it. Who knows what mysteries lie beneath the surface of the Earth's biggest frontier? Maybe one day we will invent the technology that will allow us to find the true history of our civilization- it could be at the bottom of the sea, just waiting for us!

reply to post by Beartracker16


I'm in total agreement that this site needs to be heavily documented before it is covered back up by another wave! Definately without a doubt For all we know the cure of every disease (or atleast some) is down there waiting for us. All we need is a sample and then we can synthesis from there

reply to post by sulaw


Apparently what humans won't do, marine life will.

In addition, because Bald Cypress trees can live a thousand years, and there are so many of them, the trees could contain thousands of years of climate history for the region, Harley said..

"These stumps are so big, they're upwards of two meters in diameter — the size of trucks," Harley told OurAmazingPlanet. "They probably contain thousands of growth rings."

The team, which has not yet published their results in a peer-reviewed journal, is currently applying for grants to explore the site more thoroughly. Harley estimates they have just two years.

"The longer this wood sits on the bottom of the ocean, the more marine organisms burrow into the wood, which can create hurdles when we are trying to get radiocarbon dates," Harley said. "It can really make the sample undatable, unusable."

reply to post by aboutface


This is phenominal! Thank you for sharing!

I was wondering if they were going to carbon date the trees. This would be exciting to find out exactly what time period the Ocean levels rose to the depths that they are currently at! I love it! Thank you aboutface!

reply to post by sulaw


Being that this wood is worth so much money, do you think in the future companies all along the gulf coast will simply the dredge the bottom to uncover more of these ancient forests.

No doubt they exist from west central florida probably all the way to galveston.

Really great discovery for environmental science, but I do hope we manage to leave the bulk of this "forest" intact.

So, is anyone else perplexed by the several mentions in the article of stumps?

To me, this brings to mind chainsaws and two-man crosscut saws. Who was cutting down 2 meter diameter cypress trees 52,000 years ago?

reply to post by sulaw


I think another important question to ask would be, "What type of event submerged this forest?"