ancient trees,"Berry says."Standing on the quarry surface we
can reconstruct the living forest around us in our imagination.
Berry and his colleagues first discovered the site in 2009 and
are still analyzing the fossils it contains.Some of the fossilized
roots there are 15 centimeters in diameter and form 11-meter-
wide horizontal patterns
spreading
out from where the tree
trunks once stood.Trees like those at Cairo had a big effect on
the ancient climate.Deep roots stick into and break up the rocks
within and below the soil.Geologists call this processing "weath-
ering(风化作用)”,and it sets off chemical reactions that pull
CO2 from the atmosphere
e and turn it into carbonate ions in
groundwater.This finally runs off into the sea and is locked
away as limestone(石灰岩).