On April 2nd, according to the latest research from the Hubei Provincial Institute of Geological Sciences, rich and typical Devonian coral fossils have recently been discovered in the northwest of Yunxi County, Shiyan City, Hubei Province, confirming that the location of the Qinling Mountains was once a vast ocean.
It is reported that the discovered coral fossils are mainly found in the mid-to-late Devonian pelitic, fine-crystalline limestone marine facies strata, involving more than 10 types of coral, mainly colonial corals. The area of occurrence is vast, exceeding 300 square kilometers, showing characteristics of extensive ancient oceanic biological reef construction.
This indicates that the mountainous area in the northwest of Yunxi County was a "prehistoric Great Barrier Reef" 350 million years ago.
Coral is one of the oldest marine organisms on Earth and one of the most famous reef-building organisms in the ocean. The Devonian Period, ranging from about 419 to 359 million years ago, was a significant period in Earth's history and also the most important coral reef-building period in geological history.
The recent discovery of coral fossils in Yunxi not only indicates that the Qinling Mountains were submerged by large bodies of seawater before their formation but also suggests that the area was an important region for ancient corals to extensively build reefs in shallow seas.
Yunxi County is located in the Yunxi Ridge, also known as the Hubei Ridge, which is an important part of the Qinling Mountains. Stretching east to west between Hubei and Shaanxi provinces, it spans a total length of 60 kilometers and serves as the geographical and climatic boundary between the two provinces.
Discovering Earth
