Tiny fragment from Australia seeded Southeast Asia's tropical forests, study finds
Fossils preserved in amber reveal that a drifting microplate carried hundreds of plant species from Gondwana north toward Southeast Asia
A tiny fragment of Earth's crust that broke from northwestern Australia around 150 million years ago transported hundreds of flowering plant species north across the prehistoric Tethys Ocean, ultimately seeding the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, a new study reports. The findings challenge earlier theories that the region's flora evolved after the dinosaur extinction.