Geology News - Earth Science Current Events

Photo of the discovery site on a cold, rocky, windswept slope on Vega Island, Antarctica. Photo by James Martin, used with permission.

Paleontologists from the United States and Argentina discovered one of the most complete plesiosaur skeletons ever found. (A plesiosaur is a swimming marine reptile that lived about 70 million years ago. At that time the waters of what is now Antarctica were much warmer than they are today.) The fossil plesiosaur was discovered during a 2005 expedition to Antarctica. The fossil goes on display today at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology's Museum of Geology.

This plesiosaur specimen is a juvenile of about 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length. An adult plesiosaur is about 32 feet (10 meters). It was perfectly articulated and complete, except that the skull had been lost to erosion. The plesiosaur was excavated from deposits of shallow marine sands covered by volcanic ash. Paleontologists speculate that the volcanic blast or debris thrown into the ocean was responsible for the plesiosaur's death.


Researcher carefully excavates the fossil plesiosaur. Photo by James Martin, used with permission.
Excavation of the fossil was extremely difficult because of weather conditions. The paleontolgists had to contend with 70 mile per hour winds sweeping the excavation site, low temperatures and frozen ground. Transporting the specimen to the Herbert Sound camp would have been extremely difficult but the researchers were fortunate to get helicopter support from the Argentine air force.


Artist's impression of the plesiosaur and environment. Painting by Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation.
James Martin (South Dakota School of Mines and Technology), Judd Case (Eastern Washington University), Marcelo Reguero (Museo de La Plata, Argentina) and J. Foster Sawyer (South Dakota Geological Survey and the School of Mines) were among the participants in the discovery.

Read more about the Fossil Plesiosaur at the National Science Foundation website.

Labels: Fossils

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A great site for learning about fossils and paleontology is the Paleontology Portal by the University of California Museum of Paleontology. This website is rich in information and it links to many of the best paleontology resources on the web.

One of the best features is the clickable North America geologic map under the Exploring Time and Space link. When you click on the map you are taken to a more detailed geologic map of that state along with links to the different time periods which are represented in that state. Information on fossils, the time scale, rock units, museums, related websites and more are all easily accessible.


Geologic Map Screenshot from Paleontology Portal.
The "Fossil Gallery" allows you to explore information about fossils, referencing them by time period, geographic area and/or taxonomic group. This is one of the most thorough presentations of fossils and time that you will find on the web.

Visit The Paleontology Portal.

Labels: Fossils

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Someone in the U.K. removed some fossil dinosaur footprints from Bedrick Rock, which later were posted for sale at the eBay online auction website. The prints were part of a larger trackway which thieves had broken up into convenient pieces for easy sale. An eBay shopper saw them being offered for sale, recognized them as being from the Bedrick Rock site and notified police. The fossil footprints have been recovered and placed with a museum, but unfortunately the trackway and its valuable information has been lost.

Read a full account with photos at BBC News.

Labels: Fossils

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Craig Manning (UCLA), T. Mark Harrison (UCLA) and Stephen J. Mojzsis (University of Colorado, Boulder) have completed a study of rocks collected from Akilia Island, West Greenland. They believe that these rocks contain carbon-isotope evidence for life at the time of their formation. (This is geochemical evidence rather than the finding of fossils.) If this discovery proves correct, it pushes back the earliest evidence for life on Earth by 400 million years.

The results of their work will be published in the American Journal of Science. You can read detailed information on their Geochemical Evidence of Life study now at the ScienceDaily website.

Labels: Fossils

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Image by NASA

Anyone who has taken a course in Historical Geology has heard of the Burgess Shale - one of the most important fossil finds in the history of paleontology. The Burgess Shale is a Cambrian-age rock unit that outcrops in the Canadian Rockies. In 1909, Charles Walcott, then Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution discovered one of the most important and diverse collections of well-preserved multicelluar fossil specimens within the Burgess Shale.

Image by NASA

The Smithsonian's traveling exhibit on the Burgess Shale has two more stops - The Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History in Bryan, Texas and the Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas. If you have missed seeing the exhibit at a museum near your location you might be able to check out "Fossils of the Burgess Shale" by Derek Briggs and others, published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, from your local library.

Labels: Fossils

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Researchers have discovered what appears to be the oldest fossil Ornithurae - a group that includes modern birds and their closest extinct relatives. Remains of about 40 of these ancient birds - named Gansus yumenensis have been found in Early Cretaceous lake beds of the Xiagou Formation near the town of Changma, Gansu Province, China.

These fossil birds are extremely well-preserved with clear evidence of feathers, skin and webbed feet - suggesting that the birds thrived in an aquatic environment. The fossils provide information on the ancestors of today's birds and information on the transition of carnivorous dinosaurs into the birds of today.

Read more about the Fossil Birds at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Website.

Labels: Fossils

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Interesting legal battles have arisen over the ownership of "Sue", the T-Rex dinosaur that is on display in the Chicago Field Museum. Commercial fossil hunters found it and paid a landowner to excavate it from land that is an inholding within a Sioux Reservation. The fossil hunters, land owner, tribe and United States government all claimed ownership of this fossil that is worth over $8,000,000.

Read more at the Concurring Opinions website.

Labels: Fossils

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Paleontologists have discovered a fossil fish that bridges the evolutionary gap between fish and land animals. This new species has the fins and scales of a fish, but parts of the fin resemble the limbs of tetrapods, some of the earliest limbed animals.

The fossil was found in Devonian rocks on Ellesmere Island in Canada's Nunavut Territory. It has been named Tiktaalik (large, shallow-water fish) by the people of Nunavut. During the Devonian, what is now Ellesmere Island was part of a landmass located near the equator and with a subtropical climate. The rocks that Tiktaalik was discovered in were deposited by streams meandering across a wide floodplain.

Farish Jenkins of Harvard University sums up the importance of this fossil: "The skeleton of Tiktaalik indicates that it could support its body under the force of gravity whether in very shallow water or on land, this represents a critical early phase in the evolution of all limbed animals, including us."


Zina Deretsky, National Science FoundationRead more about Tiktaalik at the NSF website.

Labels: Fossils

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Qiang Ji of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences in Beijing has reported the discovery of a beaver-like swimming mammal with fur in the Jurassic rocks of the Inner Mongolia region of China.

Jurassic mammals have long been thought of as very small land-dwelling creatures. This discovery pushes back the earliest type of mammal that was adapted for aquatic activity and suggests a much greater diversification of Jurassic mammals than previously believed.

Read more at azcentral.com

Labels: Fossils

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The Three Faces of Dinosaurs is a new WebExtra by Spencer G. Lucas (curator of paleontology and geology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History) posted at the GEOTIMES website. This article describes how paleontologists' perceptions of dinosaurs have changed during the past 200 years. These perceptions have ranged from dinosaurs being directly linked to lizards, then reptiles, then birds and ending with current ideas.

Read more at The Three Faces of Dinosaurs.

Labels: Dinosaurs, Fossils

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The Natural History Museum has a streaming video in which museum mineralogist Andy Fleet gives a 15 minute talk on the history of diamonds. In it he traces the first uses of these stones during Roman times and traces that use up to present date. Information about the origin and geography of diamond deposits is also included. The video portion of this program is not excellent quality, however, Dr. Fleet's lecture is very well done and interesting. Definitely worth hearing if you are interested in the geology of diamonds or the history of diamonds.

Listen to the History of Diamonds Lecture. (Windows Media Player or Quicktime needed - but available at the NHM website.)

Labels: Diamonds, Fossils

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A Reuters article summarizes many issues related to intelligent design versus evolution. Numerous political, social, religious and philosophical positions provide staging points for support on both sides of this debate.
Read more about Intelligent Design Versus Evolution at AOL.com.

Labels: Fossils, Teaching-Science

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Susi Tomsich, a University of Alaska Fairbanks undergraduate student found what is thought to be a track from a bird-like dinosaur in Alaska's Denali National Park. The dinosaur track was found in rocks of the Cantwell Formation that are thought to be about 70 million years old. This is the first evidence of dinosaurs found in Denali National Park and Preserve.

Photo from National Park Service
Read more about the Alaska Dinosaur Track at the National Park Service Website.

Labels: Fossils

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