Forest fires on Earth began to spread about 383 million years ago, the deadlines established the University of Alabama, reports Interfax.
According to experts, the very first forest fires due to lightning or volcanic eruptions flashed on the planet 420 million years ago, but then they did not apply to a large area, because the first vascular plants without leaves, branches or the developed root system grew in wet climate.
Later, the plants evolved, having mastered the drying places, and the early and large-scale forest fires followed. Especially strong ignition occurred 372-359 million years ago. Most fire testimonies were found in the territories of modern North America, Greenland and the part of Europe – then these lands were treated to the eastern part of the ancient continent of the Eramerica (Lavruga).
in dating by scientists helped fossil coals and geochemical signals from the ancient layers of rocks. They found that high trees and shrubs began to dominate Eramerica – the ancestors of modern seed plants.