Redwood forests grow in the polar night
Fossil stumps on Axel Heiberg Island stand where they grew, in forests that lived through months of darkness.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 5 million years
- Known to
- ± 3 million years
- Era
- Eocene, Cenozoic
On Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian Arctic, whole Eocene forests survive as unmineralised wood — stumps still rooted in their soil, leaf litter still recognisable as dawn redwood, and wood dry enough to burn. Growth rings show large annual increments, so the trees grew fast in the continuous summer light and shut down entirely for the dark half of the year. No modern forest works this way, because no modern climate combines high-latitude light regimes with the warmth to support large trees.