Photo: Tree Stump Fossil Forest New Zealand

An ancient tree stump that has been sitting along the shore of the Fossil Forest at Curio Bay on the South Island of New Zealand for many years.

As you look across the coastline of Curio Bay in Otago, New Zealand you will see a massive amount of ancient tree stumps that have risen out of the water at low tide. A close up picture of this tree stump shows all the cracks and formations that been formed over many years.

The Fossil Forest sits on a tidal platform along the coastline of the South Island of New Zealand and to be able to explore each tree stump, it is best to visit Curio Bay at low tide. This is when many ancient stumps adorn the landscape of the Fossil Forest along with remnants of trees, leaves and other forest scraps.

Each tree stump at the Fossil Forest has been studied and some of them match up with Kauri and Norfolk Island Pine Trees that could take us back about 160 million years. This area of New Zealand has given scientists some light on the type of natural existence that was once alive around this part of the world and helped in the studies of early years. ... continue below the picture...

This picture is part of the photo album "Curio Bay" - there are more beautiful images waiting for you.

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Researchers have measured each tree stump in the Fossil Forest that have been easy to access and some of the tree trunks have been over fifty feet in length. The original forest that grew along this coastline was destroyed by heavy volcanic debris which grew back only to be destroyed at least three more times over a period of about 20,000 years. After millions of years, sediments were deeply buried and it was not for at least the last 10,000 years that they have resurfaced along the coastline of New Zealand.

While visiting the Fossil Forest at Curio Bay on the South Island of New Zealand, feel free to explore each tree stump, the plant impressions and the huge tree trunks but please leave the fossils behind. If everyone took home a souvenir from the area, the Fossil Forest will eventually be destroyed along with a historic piece of New Zealand.

Ancient tree stump at the Fossil Forest at Curio Bay, Southern Scenic Route, Catlins, Otago, East Coast, South Island, New Zealand.