Florissant

This image is of the ancient Lake Florissant, now dry. 

This image is of the hills which have transformed over time from dense redwood forests to the dry woodlands we see today.

This is of the ancient redwood bark which has been transformed through time into stone.

With the process of permineralization, these ancient redwoods have been found in the earth as stone.

Lake Florissant which, through the many natural processes in history, has become the rolling, forested hillsides we all know today.

            Time changes all things. Even the most constant thing which is under our very feet changes with time. The Earth transforms with the ages and is ever in motion. The idea of a stagnant Earth is nothing but a human idea. We exist on this planet for only a short blip in time and we all return to the great Earth from which we were made. I was reminded of all this when I visited the Florissant Fossil Beds.

            As we explored the ancient Lake Florissant, which now exists in our world as a dry valley, I was reminded of the ever-changing state of the Earth and my own imminent mortality. The change of the Earth over the last 34 million years has been drastic. The image of the area of Florissant, from a lush, dense, and wet redwood forest with a nearby lake filled with countless types of aquatic and airborne life to the dry woodlands we see today, is a radical change. I found it hard to even imagine the hills that I know so well to have been so different.

            Continuing our tour around the fossil beds, we were shown the ancient redwoods, now petrified and hidden in the earth. With the process of permineralization, these enormous, imposing trees have been completely reduced and altered into stone whilst waiting in the ground. While exploring these areas, I was once again drawn to think about the changing state of the world and to wonder what the world would look like in another few million years. I was reminded of the book, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells and his vision of the future.

The ancient world of the Cenozoic era, which is an extreme change from today’s world, is an interesting thought to ponder. The ever-changing and ever-stirring Earth reminds us that nothing in this universe is permanent; though we feel like life goes on no matter what, we are indeed mortal and it will eventually catch up with us as individuals and as a human species.