Millions of Years Ago, These North American Forests Disappeared for Good

Drier winters (not summers) may be behind their transition to grasslands, highlighting the crucial role of winter precipitation in sustaining tree-cover.

By Theo Nicitopoulos
Apr 16, 2022 5:00 AM
Coniferous forest
(Credit: Jose Luis Stephens/Shutterstock)

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More than 26 million years ago, west-central North America's grasslands didn’t exist. Instead, denser forests spanned the region, even extending eastward to the 100th meridian — the line famously identified by John Wesley Powell of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1878 as separating the dry and humid areas of the continent.

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