Scientists and rangers in Western Australia have discovered an ecological ‘time capsule’ beneath one of the states spectacular beaches. The ancient peat bog contains organic material from thousands of years ago and they say it could provide vital lessons for today’s changing climate.
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00:00Locals describe Western Australia's Wharton Beach as a magical place, but a recent discovery
00:10has given that description new meaning.
00:12Pretty big stump.
00:14The Esperance Dalyarrak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation has been closely monitoring this
00:20beach ever since an unusual discovery in 2021.
00:25An extreme tide had revealed an unusual log which ranger Jeremy Smith found and had sent
00:31away to be radiocarbon dated.
00:33It came back 7,000 plus years of age, so it was a pretty cool find.
00:39It was extremely exciting news.
00:42It's a little time capsule that we've uncovered and it's just really the tip of the iceberg
00:48in terms of what we need to explore and study.
00:51Because the peat had been sealed over by sand and sea for so long, they hoped it might
00:56contain organic material from thousands of years ago.
01:00It's kind of like a gateway into a lost landscape of the past.
01:06Since then, that gateway to the past has been covered over again by the tide.
01:11But in early June, the Dalyarrak rangers made another discovery.
01:15The latest piece of ancient stump was sent to the University of New South Wales for testing.
01:21By measuring how much radiocarbon is left in the sample, we can determine how old it is.
01:26It's been two months since the rangers first dug the stump out of Wharton Beach.
01:31Today, they're finally going to learn how old it is.
01:34We divided the peat up into two samples and they were 6,870 years and 7,060 years.
01:44And the tree trunk is just a little bit older than that at 7,120 years.
01:49Just to see how old that is, is very amazing.
01:52The rangers are now excited at the prospect of uncovering more ancient stories about this
01:58unique part of Australia.