研究人员发现史前西藏雨林的存在

The cold and dry plateau of Tibet in Southwest China used to be a warm and humid rainforest 40 million years ago, scientists from China, India and the UK recently discovered, saying that it offers critical evidence of the plateau’s ancient environment.

来自中国、印度和英国的科学家最近发现，4000万年前，中国西南部西藏寒冷干燥的高原曾经是温暖潮湿的雨林。他们说，这为青藏高原古代环境提供了重要证据。

The scientists found a Tibet amber and proved it was the fossil resin of an ancient dipterocarpaceae, the representative plant of Asian rainforests, which is key to proving the existence of Tibet’s ancient rainforests, according to a release provided by the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, which participated in the research, to the Global Times on Thursday.

据参与研究的中国科学院南京地质古生物学研究所周四向“环球时报”提供的一份新闻稿称，科学家们发现了一颗西藏琥珀，并证明它是一种古老的亚洲热带雨林的代表性植物-一种古老的龙舌兰科植物的化石树脂。这是证明西藏古代热带雨林存在的关键。

The Tibet amber, originally located less than 1,300 meters above sea level, is derived from the representative plant of Asian rainforests, said Wang Bo, researcher of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and program instructor.

南京地质古生物研究所研究员、项目指导员王波说，西藏琥珀最初位于海拔不到1300米的地方，是从亚洲热带雨林的代表性植物中提取出来的。

Wang’s team worked with their counterparts from Britain and India.

王波的团队与来自英国和印度的同行一起工作。

At that time, Tibet had a relatively low sea level and so the forest formed because of warm steam from the Indian Ocean, Wang said.

王波说，当时西藏的海平面相对较低，因此印度洋的温暖蒸汽形成了森林。

He explained that the Tibet forest resembles Xishuangbanna in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province, one of the most famous rainforests in China, which experiences close to tropical climate.

他解释说，西藏森林类似于中国西南部云南省的西双版纳，是中国最著名的热带雨林之一，靠近热带气候。