Veres János: A bükkábrányi 8 millió éves mocsárerdő (Múzeumi Mozaik 7. Miskolc, 2007)

Rarely can anyone make conceptions with this degree of confidence. Given the age of the findings, which is surely millions of years, the magnitude of this is tenfold. It is safe to conclude that one of the most significant forest piece ever, originating in the biosphere, has been uncovered in Hungary. PLACING THE FOREST IN THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY It is clear from the map that the Bükkábrány mine site of the Mátra Power Plant is based on lignite originating from the upper Miocene. An extensive swamp forest grew along the northern coastline of what once was the Pannon Sea at the bases of today's Mátra Mountain and this shows a fairly perfect concurrence with the lignite field that exists between two regional towns, Gyöngyös and Polgár today. By studying the mine's stratigraphical maps it was clear that the forest we found on the lignite buildup is from between 11.6 and 5.3 million years ago. Since mining is chiefly built on extensive stratigraphical knowledge of our geological history, it can be stated in confidence that there can be no mistake. The devastation of this coastal forest of the Pannon Sea can be dated back to 8 million years ago based on the age of a 3-metre thick lignite layer on which it is found. BACKGROUND OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY We know that in the upper Miocene the continents were contsantly moving, resulting in strong surface shaping forces. The two highest mountains of Central Europe, the Alpes and the Carpathians, came to be as the direct result of collisions between the Eurasian and African plates. The rivers of this region