The remnants of a cedar forest which was not wiped out along with the rest of Bermuda's cedars by the scale insect in the late 1940's has been discovered.

There is only one problem: this forest is 30 feet underwater.

The remains of the forest was discovered by Bermudian explorer and scientist Teddy Tucker while he was working on the Bermuda Sea Level Project, which was started in 1997.

The Project, which is being conducted by the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, the Geological Survey of Canada, and the New England Aquarium, aims to study the impact that the rise in sea levels due to global warming will have on both Bermuda and the eastern seaboard of the US and Canada.

The discovery of the cedar forest was merely a sidebar.

The interlocking root system and lower stump sections of four Red Cedar trees were found just inside Gurnet Rock, southeast of Bermuda.

Dated at about 7,290 years old, the mystery about this forest is not the fact that it is underwater - that can easily be explained by the fact discovered by the Sea Level Project that Bermuda once comprised an area of about 250 square miles of dry land, before global temperatures rose and the oceans followed suit.

What seems mysterious about the cedar forest is that many of the trees are burnt and charred, suggesting a serious fire on Bermuda's shores from thousands of years ago.

The Sea Level Project is continuing to investigate the drowned forest as part of the sea level study. The study is also bringing to light other information which may have a serious impact on Bermuda.

BUEI Interim Director and Honorary Trustee Wendy Tucker said that with every centimetre the sea rises, the impact of a hurricane on Bermuda's shores will be significantly greater, with storm surge increasing by about a foot each time. The impact on the erosion of the shoreline will be important, she said.

Ms Tucker added that the chief scientists of the Bermuda Sea Level Project will be meeting in Bermuda next month, when hopefully more information about both the cedar forest and the rising sea levels will be revealed.