Restoration of Carboniferous Tropical Forest at the Ovčín Locality in West Bohemia

Excavations at the Ovčín locality, which were made during last few years helped us to reconstruct coal-forming tropical forest 310 milions years old. The whole area was covered by volcanic ash during two big eruptions of volcano near the Krušné Hory mountains. Volcanic ash preserved tropical forest with all plants in their original positions. Intensive excavations recovered a part of tropical forest and it is possible to reconstruct precize specific diversity and also original positions of all plants. The most abundant were extinct arborescent and sub-arborescent lycopsids and cordaites. Also specimens of ferns, calamites and selaginellas, i.e. plants which affect also today were found. Surprising are specimens of selaginellas climbing up along arborescent plants, because we supposed, that these plants grew only as herbaceous forms as undergrowth. Specific diversity of tropical coal-forming forest was much bigger, than we supposed earlier. Several specimens of plants from this locality belong to the biggest specimens in the world. No comparable locality, where it is possible to study plants of coal-forming tropical forests in their original positions is known. The importance of these findings was stressed by the fact, that results of the research was included among ten greatest successes of Czech Science during ten years of its independence existence. Excavations will be continued in next few years.

CONTACT PERSON:

RNDr. Jiří Bek, CSc.
phone: 233087264
e-mail: mrbean@gli.cas.cz