Fossil Grove facts for kids
The Fossil Grove is a special place in Victoria Park, Glasgow, Scotland. It's a collection of fossilised tree stumps and roots from ancient plants. These plants are called Lepidodendron lycopsids. They are sometimes called "giant club mosses" but are more like quillworts today. The Fossil Grove was found in 1887. It has eleven fossil stumps and their root systems, known as Stigmaria.
Since it opened to the public in 1890, the Fossil Grove has been a popular museum and tourist spot. It's Glasgow's oldest visitor attraction, showing us what a huge ancient forest looked like. A building was built around the fossils to protect them from the weather.
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What is the Fossil Grove?
The Fossil Grove is located on the floor of an old quarry. This area is about 23 meters (75 feet) long and 10 meters (33 feet) wide. The rocks around the fossils are shale and sandstone. They belong to a rock layer called the Limestone Coal Formation. These rocks were laid down about 325 million years ago. This was when the Lepidodendron trees were still alive.
The rocks are now tilted and broken by many cracks. They slant downwards towards the northeast. The quarry itself was formed by a type of igneous rock called dolerite. This rock pushed into the sediments and two of the tree trunks about 290 million years ago. This dolerite rock was later used to build nearby roads. The ancient trees were only found after the quarry was closed. It was then turned into the new Victoria Park.
The Ancient Trees and Their Roots
The fossil stumps are actually casts of the hollow insides of the ancient trees. They show the huge outer part of the tree, not the woody inside. These tree trunk fossils belonged to Lepidodendron veltheimianum plants. Their underground root systems are called Stigmaria. The common type found here is Stigmaria ficoides.
Most of the stumps are about 1 to 3 feet (0.3 to 0.9 meters) wide and 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) tall. A single larger stump in the western part of the grove is about 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 meters) wide. The tree trunks are still in the exact spots where they grew. Some fossils have small wrinkles on their outside, like wrinkled bark. However, tiny details are not well preserved.
The root-like parts branch out in a way that shows they are Stigmaria roots. They spread out over 10 feet (3 meters) from the trunks. The Lepidodendron trees grew during the Carboniferous period. At that time, Scotland was much warmer, located near the equator. These trees grew in a low, swampy area that often flooded. The way the stumps are spread out suggests that the Grove was once part of a large ancient forest. This forest was mainly made up of Lepidodendron trees.
How the Fossils Formed
The sandstone in the Grove is covered with shale. This shale was once mud that was laid down during a big flood. This flood knocked over and killed the Lepidodendron trees. The soft parts of the trees then rotted away, making the trunks and root systems hollow. Later floodwaters filled these hollow stumps with sand.
Marks on some surfaces show that the floodwaters flowed from the southwest. The trunks were then buried and turned into solid rock. The sand inside the trunks also became solid rock. The outer bark of the trees turned into a thin layer of coal. Some of the trunks are oval-shaped, especially the tallest one. However, Lepidodendron trees were usually round. These changes in shape were probably caused by the force of the floodwaters. The water filled the trunks with sand, pushing them into an oval shape. This matches the direction of the ripple marks, towards the southwest.
Besides the fossil stumps, the only other signs of ancient life in these rocks are worm burrows. These are found in some of the sandstone layers.
History of the Fossil Grove
In 1885, a part of the Scotstoun estate was rented to create a park. The Fossil Grove was discovered in late 1887. This happened when a small channel was dug through an old quarry. This digging was done to prepare for building a road in the new park.
In April 1888, members of the Geological Society of Glasgow suggested leaving the fossils where they were found. They wanted a building to be built around them. The leaders of Partick agreed to leave the fossils in place. In 1889, they built a building to protect the fossils. This cost about £400. On January 1, 1890, the Fossil House covering the Fossil Grove opened to the public.
The wooden roof beams of the House were replaced with metal ones in the 1920s. During World War II, a bomb damaged the roof and one of the tree trunks. A concrete piece was used to fix the center of the damaged trunk. In the 1970s, the roof with windows was replaced with regular roof panels. Today, Glasgow City Council still maintains the building. The Fossil Grove Trust and Historic Scotland are working with the Council. They want to improve the drainage, air flow, and information about the site. Friends of Victoria Park are also creating a fern garden in the nearby quarry area. The fossil Lepidodendron trees are recognized as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. This means they are very important for science.
Visitor Information
As of July 2022, the Fossil Grove is open from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. only on the third Sunday of each month. This is from April to October. The park around it is always open. The Fossil House has stone and paved paths, and a few stone steps. It is accessible for wheelchairs. The walk around the entire quarry is about 400 meters (1,300 feet) long. Admission is free.
About 50 meters (160 feet) east of the Fossil House, there is a wooden sculpture. It shows a lycopod tree with a giant centipede. This sculpture was built in 2014 to celebrate the 20th Commonwealth Games.
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