The Underwater Forest documents Gulf Coast in The Ice Age

The Underwater Forest documents Gulf Coast in The Ice Age
Reporter Raines discovers ancient forest in Gulf, 10 miles south of Gulf Shores
The Underwater Forest, a documentary written and directed by investigative reporter Ben Raines of Fairhope, will air on Alabama Public Television on July 23 at 6 p.m. and July 24 at 9 p.m.
The film details the discovery and exploration of an ancient cypress forest found sixty feet underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, 10 miles due south of Gulf Shores. The forest dates to an ice age more than 60,000 years ago, when sea levels were about 400 feet lower than they are today. The forest appears to be a wholly unique relic of our planet’s past, the only known site where a coastal ice age forest this old has been preserved in place.
It is considered to be a treasure trove of information, providing new insights into everything from climate in the region to annual rainfall, insect populations, and the types of plants that inhabited the Gulf Coast before humans arrived. Scientific analysis of the site is ongoing.
The documentary follows the work of the team investigating the site, both underwater and in the laboratory.
Director Raines also filmed the underwater sequences and organized the first scientific missions to the site.
The scientists believe the forest was buried beneath the Gulf sediments for eons. Giant waves driven by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 uncovered it.
Raines and AL.com collected the first samples from the site, and have participated in every scientific mission to the site since 2012.
Dropping 10 fathoms down, below the green waves of the Gulf and back in time to this prehistoric world amounts to a sort of time traveler’s journey.
Nothing like the forest, in terms of age or scale, has ever been found before. The oxygen-free underwater environment has hermetically sealed the trees in a sort of natural time capsule.
The film puts viewers right there with the first scientists and film crew to visit the site as they unlock the secrets of the past beneath the Gulf of Mexico.
The Alabama Coastal Foundation will host a screening of the film with a Q & A (with the director to follow) at the Gulf Coast Exploreum’s IMAX Theater on Thursday, August 10 at 5:30 p.m. (Info: 251-220-9850 or acf.org).
The Underwater Forest documentary has spurred wide ranging media coverage of the ancient forest, including a recent Peter Holley penned story in the Washington Post.
The discovery began with a rumor about a fishing “honey hole” somewhere off the Alabama Coast, 10 miles offshore from Gulf Shores. A local diver took Raines to the spot.
“It was like entering a fairy world,” Raines told The Washington Post. “You get down there, and there are these cypress trees, and there are logs lying on the bottom, and you can touch them and peel the bark off.
“It was an otherworldly experience where you knew you were in this ancient place,” he added.
The Washington Post described the site as not merely a forest, but a prehistoric time capsule of the coastline and its climate during a 1,000-year period, when sea levels were much lower and much of the continent was hidden beneath a one-mile thick sheet of ice.