Chinanews, Shenyang, Oct 9 – Scientists recently discovered some conodont fossils in Benxi city, northeast China's Liaoning Province. The discovery tells that some 310 million years ago, the ocean floor of what is now known as Liaoning Province rose as land at an earlier time than that of the northern China region. It also rose at a much faster speed than the latter.The discovery was made by a research team jointly organized by archeologists from the Jilin University Palaeontology Research Center and the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In a place called Niumaoling in Benxi, scientists discovered, for the first time, some conodont fossils that were confirmed to belong to the middle and upper part of the Moscovian period in an earth layer that was scientifically defined as the Carboniferous Benxi Formation. According to international geological definition, Moscovian period is a standardized unit used to judge when a certain earth layer was formed. Based on this standard, it is estimated that the conodont fossils were formed some 310 million years ago.Conodont fossils were the fossils of a tiny, insect-like animal which lived in the ocean some 540-200 million years ago.The fossils were confirmed to have been formed in the middle and upper period of the Moscovian time. However, scientists did not unearth any fossils that were formed at a later time (in the uppermost period of the Moscovian time) in Benxi. Fossils that were formed in the later period were identified in China's northern region of Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Jiangsu.Since conodont fossils could only form by ocean animals, the discovery shows that the ocean floor of what is now known as Liaoning Province rose as land at an earlier time than that of the northern China region and its rising speed was also faster. Since the ocean floors in China’s north region and other areas rose as land at a later time with a slow speed, scientists were able to discover a complete sequence of conodont fossils in these regions, said Wang Chengyuan, a professor at Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.