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The Fossil Grove is a group of plant fossils located within Victoria Park,
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. It was discovered in 1887 and contains the
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
ised stumps and roots of eleven extinct ''
Lepidodendron ''Lepidodendron'' is an extinct genus of primitive vascular plants belonging to the family Lepidodendraceae, part of a group of Lycopodiopsida known as scale trees or arborescent lycophytes, related to quillworts and lycopsids (club mosses). Th ...
'' trees, which are sometimes described as " giant club mosses" but are more closely related to
quillwort ''Isoetes'', commonly known as the quillworts, is the only extant genus of plants in the family Isoetaceae, which is in the class of lycopods. There are currently 192 recognized species, with a cosmopolitan distribution but with the individual s ...
s. The Fossil Grove is managed as a museum and has been a popular tourist attraction since it opened for public viewing in 1890. The site, Glasgow's most ancient visitor attraction and the remnants of an extensive ancient forest, is viewed from within a building constructed to protect the fossils from the elements.


Description

The Fossil Grove is on a by floor of an old quarry, and belongs to the same geological time period as several other groups of ''
Lepidodendron ''Lepidodendron'' is an extinct genus of primitive vascular plants belonging to the family Lepidodendraceae, part of a group of Lycopodiopsida known as scale trees or arborescent lycophytes, related to quillworts and lycopsids (club mosses). Th ...
'' fossils found northwest of
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
. The
shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...
s and
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...
s exposed around the fossils belong to the Limestone Coal Formation of the
Clackmannan Group The Clackmannan Group is the name given to a suite of rocks of late Dinantian and Namurian age laid down during the Carboniferous period in the Midland Valley of Scotland. Description The Group comprises a lower unit of coarse sandstones, silts ...
, with the shale containing imprints of various plant remains. The
strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as e ...
were deposited approximately 325 million years ago when the trees were still alive, and the strata are now folded and cut by many faults and slant downwards to the northeast. The quarry in which the fossils were found is an
igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...
sill Sill may refer to: * Sill (dock), a weir at the low water mark retaining water within a dock * Sill (geology), a subhorizontal sheet intrusion of molten or solidified magma * Sill (geostatistics) * Sill (river), a river in Austria * Sill plate, ...
that was intruded into the sediments and two of the trunks during the
Early Permian 01 or '01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * 01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * ''01'' (Son of Dave album), 2000 * ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''O1'' (Hiroyuki Sawan ...
period approximately 290 million years ago. The
dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...
was used to
macadam Macadam is a type of road construction, pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam around 1820, in which crushed stone is placed in shallow, convex layers and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the ...
ize nearby roads. The trees were only discovered after the quarry was abandoned when it was landscaped into the new Victoria Park. The stumps themselves are internal casts of the hollow trees, representing the huge cortical
meristem The meristem is a type of tissue found in plants. It consists of undifferentiated cells (meristematic cells) capable of cell division. Cells in the meristem can develop into all the other tissues and organs that occur in plants. These cells conti ...
of the trees rather than the woody interior. The remnants of trunks belonged to '' Lepidodendron veltheimianum'' trees and the root systems were '' Stigmaria ficoides''. Most trunks are in diameter and tall, and a single larger stump stands in the western part of the grove, measuring in diameter. Some fossils have small wrinkles on their exterior, suggesting wrinkled bark, but fine details are poorly preserved in the fossils. The roots have the dichotomous branching pattern indicative of ''Stigmaria'' and extend over from the trunks. The trees would have grown during the
Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carboniferou ...
period when
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
was a more tropical area, situated near the equator. The trees grew in a low, swampy environment that would often flood. The distribution of the trunks suggests that the Grove was once part of a
Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ...
forest that was chiefly composed of ''Lepidodendron'' trees. The sandstone in the Grove is covered with shale that was deposited as mud in a major flooding episode, and this deposition of sediment knocked over and killed the trees. The soft tissues of the cortical meristem and inner phelloderm of the trees then decomposed and made the trees and root systems hollow, and subsequent flood waters filled the hollow tree stumps with sand. Ripple marks on some surfaces indicate a south-western flow of the flood waters. The trunks were then buried and
lithified Lithification (from the Ancient Greek word ''lithos'' meaning 'rock' and the Latin-derived suffix ''-ific'') is the process in which sediments compact under pressure, expel connate fluids, and gradually become solid rock. Essentially, lithificatio ...
, and became molds in the surrounding sandstone. The sand inside the trunks became solid rock, and the outer bark of the trees became a thin layer of coal. Though some trunks are elliptical, especially the tallest, ''Lepidodendron'' trees were typically circular. The deformations were likely caused by the force of the rising flood waters that filled the trunks with sand, as indicated by the tendency for the deformations to be in the same direction as the ripple marks, towards the south-west. Besides the fossil stumps, the only other indications of organic life in the strata of the Fossil Grove are '' Arenicola'' burrows found in some sandstone beds.


History

In 1885 part of the
Scotstoun Scotstoun ( gd, Baile an Sgotaich) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Cl ...
estate was leased to create a park, and the Fossil Grove was discovered in late 1887 when a pilot channel was cut through an old quarry in preparation for the construction of a road in the park. In April 1888 members of the Geological Society of Glasgow suggested to leave the fossils
in situ ''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...
and construct a building around the fossils. The commissioners of
Partick Partick ( sco, Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and ...
elected to leave the fossils where they were uncovered and in 1889, at a cost of about £400, constructed a building to contain the fossils. On 1 January 1890, the Fossil House covering the Fossil Grove opened to the public. The wooden roof timbers of the House were replaced with metal trusses in the 1920s. A bomb damaged the roof and a single trunk during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, and a concrete spacer replaced the center of the damaged trunk. The windowed roof was replaced with regular roof panels in the 1970s. Today the building continues to be maintained by Glasgow City Council. The Fossil Grove Trust (along with Historic Scotland) are working with the Council to improve the drainage, ventilation, and interpretation of the site. Friends of Victoria Park are establishing a fernery in the adjacent quarry area. The fossil trees are designated as a
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
.


Visitor information

The Fossil Grove is open from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. only on the third Sunday of the month, from April to October, and the surrounding park is always open. The Fossil House has stone and tarmac paths and a few stone steps, and is wheelchair accessible. The walk around the entire quarry is about long. Admission is free. About east of the Fossil House is an oak sculpture of a Lycopod tree with a giant centipede. The sculpture was constructed in 2014 to commemorate the 20th
Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...
.


See also

* Fossil Forest, Dorset


References


External links

*
Fossil Grove website

Images of the Fossil Grove and its fossils
at The Glasgow Story {{coord, 55.8767, N, 4.3382, W, display=title Paleontological sites of Europe Museums in Glasgow Fossils of Scotland Carboniferous Scotland Natural history museums in Scotland Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Scotland 1887 in Scotland 1887 in science Serpukhovian