Early land plants led to the rise of mud
Mud rocks increased in riverbeds as rootless plants spread around 458 million years ago
![bryophyte](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/030118_CG_mudplants_feat.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
MUD MAKEOVER Before rooted plants appeared on Earth, there were bryophytes, a group including modern mosses and liverworts, such as this Marchantia. New research suggests these early land plants helped shape Earth’s surface by creating clay-rich river deposits.
F. Lamiot/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)