Show HEAVY ANCIENT FORESTS IN DAKOTA fossils have been aptly calleT called the illustrations in the great book recording the worlds history the pages of which are the layers of rock that form the outer part of the crust of the earth by looking at some of the photographic reproductions of fossil plants we can restore in imagination the ancient vegetation of parts of the world fossil plants are very abend abundant ant in the fort union formation a series of tertiary rock beds in north dakota where they are found in the sand sandstone handsone sone in the harder concretions or lenses and in the clay between the beds of sandstone most of them especially those in the clay are preserved with remarkable inar kable fidelity about species of plants from this form aaion have been described and the total number of species it f contains may perhaps reach or more according to the I 1 united states geological survey this abundant fossil flora shows that what is now an al most treeless plain was once covered with splendid forests of hardwoods interspersed with scattered conifers and gink oink gos the presence of nur numerous nerous and at many places thick beds bed s of liol lignite nite make it clear that in this region anere were great swamps which must have existed with but little change for long periods of time among b the plants of this epoch were fig trees and a fan palm with leaves 5 or 6 feet across indi eating cating that the climate was as warm or warmer than that i now prevailing on oil the south atlantic slope of the united states i |