FOSSILIZED FINDINGS EXHIBITION AT EVROS
In the information center you can find out about
fossil forest of Evros, its importance and process
fossilization. You can also admire unique fossils
finds from tree trunks, leaves, corals, fish, shells, etc.
aged 35 to 40 million years.
Fossilization is the process of preserving animal or plant remains
as fossils. During the fossilization process they are replaced
the organic components of an organism from inorganic matter, under
under certain conditions, it thus becomes an inorganic body that retains
the shape and structure of the organism (main fossil).
The creation of the fossilized forest of Lefkimi is directly connected
with the volcanic activity of the wider area of Evros, where
there were active volcanoes. Thus, in a period of intense activity
lava was ejected from the crater of the volcano,
pyroclastic materials, volcanic ash, which covered the rich
subtropical vegetation of the area. Simultaneously with the volcanic
action were created hot solutions rich in dissolved
silica (SiO2) and thus began a strong hydrothermal
traffic. The latter penetrated and permeated the volcanic ones
rocks, in which the trunks of the trees, the leaves, were already found,
fish, corals etc. and so the process of fossilization began,
that is, the molecule-by-molecule replacement of organic matter by
inorganic materials of the environment. Result of this process
is the creation of fossils. During the fossilization, which
in the case of the Lefkimi fossil forest it is perfect,
the macroscopic morphologies are maintained in excellent condition
features of tree trunks, e.g. the growth rings,
bark prints etc. as well as its internal structure
of fossil wood, from the microscopic study of which
the genus or species of the fossilized trunk is determined. The same,
of course, it happened with the other findings as well.
