# When forests Fluorished On Ellesmere Island, What Were The Tropics Like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-forests-fluorished-on-ellesmere-island-what-were-the-tropics-like/678594 "2014-01-12T18:14:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-forests-fluorished-on-ellesmere-island-what-were-the-tropics-like/678594/1 "2014-01-12T18:14:08Z")
Today, there are the preserved remains of trees in Northern Ellesmere Island (Canadian Arctic). The climate then (millions of years ago) was tropical-like the present day amazon basin. What was the earth’s climate like in the tropical regions? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-forests-fluorished-on-ellesmere-island-what-were-the-tropics-like/678594/2 "2014-01-12T19:26:51Z")
Well **ralph** , a casual Googling [reveals](http://www.livescience.com/27334-eocene-canada-biodiversity.html#sthash.oBjH3aBA.dpuf): "During the Eocene period about 50 million years ago, Earth’s climate was warmer on average, but also less seasonal. Tropics-style year-round stability stretched all the way to the Arctic. “When forests Fluorished On Ellesmere Island” it is likely that other regions were also gleaming white, with few cavities. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-forests-fluorished-on-ellesmere-island-what-were-the-tropics-like/678594/3 "2014-01-12T20:09:39Z")
Continental drift. I’m more familiar with what happened in the important hemisphere, but I expect the continents moved around a bit up in the northern hemisphere too. So parts of what is now Canada may have been a lot closer to the equator than they are now. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-forests-fluorished-on-ellesmere-island-what-were-the-tropics-like/678594/4 "2014-01-12T20:15:45Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Continental drift. I’m more familiar with what happened in the important hemisphere, but I expect the continents moved around a bit up in the northern hemisphere too. So parts of what is now Canada may have been a lot closer to the equator than they are now. [That’s not true in this case.](http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic41-4-314.pdf) While continents have moved around, the area where these forests have been found was nearly at its present latitude. The polar climate was just much warmer then. > [@](#): > > Palaeolatitude studies suggest that the forest lay close to its present high-latitude position during the Eocene. Such a forest is therefore evidence that the Eocene polar climate was much warmer than today and that the trees were able to tolerate a polar sunlight regime of continuous summer sunlight followed by months of winter darkness. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-forests-fluorished-on-ellesmere-island-what-were-the-tropics-like/678594/5 "2014-01-12T22:14:08Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > “When forests Fluorished On Ellesmere Island” it is likely that other regions were also gleaming white, with few cavities. No no, you’re thinking of flouride, which being white helps whiten your teeth. The brown teeth so common in medieval times was due to most people using whole-grain flouride.