Fossil Finds

[TheGreenMan]

I like Palin's response:

"Told yesterday about the Blue's discovery, Michael Palin chuckled, saying: "It just shows that nothing is original.""

[rogue06]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, put some actual dinosaur fossils in the hands of a believer in a young earth and watch them compartmentalize. A few years back in the parking lot of my church I was showing a few members a 70 myo section of Spinosaurus jaw with teeth that I had just obtained and even the staunch YECs were calling their kids over to take a look and describing it to them as being 70 myo. Something like this may have happened when a man found the fossilized remains of a Mosasaur, an aquatic reptile which co-existed with dinosaurs, in a creek near Dallas.

Garland man finds fossil of mosasaur in Duck Creek

Charles Amyx had seen fossils in museums, but he didn't buy into the notion that dinosaurs ever existed.

"How can these be 3 million years old?" he asked, citing his belief that the world is much younger.

But the 62-year-old school bus driver has no doubt that the mosasaur bones he unearthed in the river bottom behind his Garland home are something special. Members of the Dallas Paleontological Society agree.




Source

© source where applicable

Mr. Amyx still is off with his estimate for how old the fossils are, but it appears that he is starting to learn. At least he now realizes that they're real

[shunyadragon]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, put some actual dinosaur fossils in the hands of a believer in a young earth and watch them compartmentalize. A few years back in the parking lot of my church I was showing a few members a 70 myo section of Spinosaurus jaw with teeth that I had just obtained and even the staunch YECs were calling their kids over to take a look and describing it to them as being 70 myo. Something like this may have happened when a man found the fossilized remains of a Mosasaur, an aquatic reptile which co-existed with dinosaurs, in a creek near Dallas.

Garland man finds fossil of mosasaur in Duck Creek

Charles Amyx had seen fossils in museums, but he didn't buy into the notion that dinosaurs ever existed.

"How can these be 3 million years old?" he asked, citing his belief that the world is much younger.

But the 62-year-old school bus driver has no doubt that the mosasaur bones he unearthed in the river bottom behind his Garland home are something special. Members of the Dallas Paleontological Society agree.




Source

© source where applicable

Mr. Amyx still is off with his estimate for how old the fossils are, but it appears that he is starting to learn. At least he now realizes that they're real

I have enjoyed your thread since it began. It get's you some digital pearls.

[rogue06]

Scientists have discovered more than a hundred well-preserved dinosaur fossilized tracks 150 myo that apparently were made by a herd of 11 sauropods and an ornithopod along a coastal mudflat in what today is the Republic of Yemen. Both types of dinosaur were herbivores with the former being the long-necked four-legged giants and the latter a much smaller creature that walked on the two 3-toed feet of its back legs. These are the first dinosaur tracks found on the Arabian peninsula, an area where dinosaur fossils have been extremely rare. Previously, the only things found have been a few isolated bones uncovered in Oman along with fragments possibly from a sauropod in Yemen. It also represents the only multi-taxon dinosaur ichnosite in the Middle East which is also not known for very many dinosaur fossil discoveries.

Mohammed Al-Daheri, local journalist, spotted the ornithopod tracks around 47km (29.2 miles) north of the capital Sana’a near the village of Madar back in 2003. He notified a paleontologist at Sana’a University, Mohammed Al-Wosi, who in turn notified Anne Schulup of the Maastricht Natuurhistorisch Museum in The Netherlands, and Nancy Stevens of Ohio State, who investigated the area of December 2006. During their search they found the nearby sauropod tracks.

After measuring the shape and angle of the different digits of the fifteen 56cm (22”) long ornithopod footprints they were able to determine that the dinosaur was approximately 6-7 meters (19.6-23’) long from head to tail and was walking along at between 3-4kph (1.8-2.5mph). Although ornithopods and sauropods overlapped in time, it’s a tad unusual to find evidence of such a large ornithopod in the Late Jurassic, the epoch that these tracks date from, the researchers explained. It may mean that large ornithopods came along earlier than previously thought – at least in the Southern Hemisphere.

The sauropod tracks were made by both large and small members (presumably young and old) and their spacing indicates they were all strolling along together at roughly 3kph (1.8mph). The longest of these trackways is 16 meters (52.5’) and consists of 16 consecutive footprints.

"It's rare to see such a big example of a dinosaur herd. This is interesting social behavior for reptiles," Schulp said. "I'm really excited by finding out that the whole herd is walking at the same speed, with the younger ones having to walk a bit quicker — making short steps at a higher frequency — and the big ones walking at the same speed with long steps at a lower frequency. It just works out wonderfully well."

All concerned have expressed their confidence that the find will usher in more discoveries in the near future primarily due to an abundance of near-by similarly-aged outcrops in the vicinity. And for both types of tracks discovered the potential exists for uncovering additional tracks by further exposing the layer along the northern edge of the site.

Further Reading:

First Dinosaur Tracks from the Arabian Peninsula Abstract & Paper

First Dinosaur Tracks Discovered On Arabian Peninsula

First dino tracks found in ancient Arabia

Rare Dinosaur Tracks Found on Arabian Peninsula

Frozen in time beneath the desert heat: dinosaur footprints

[rogue06]

I have enjoyed your thread since it began. It get's you some digital pearls.

Thank you. Much appreciated.

[rogue06]

Scientists have discovered more than a hundred well-preserved dinosaur fossilized tracks 150 myo that apparently were made by a herd of 11 sauropods and an ornithopod along a coastal mudflat in what today is the Republic of Yemen. Both types of dinosaur were herbivores with the former being the long-necked four-legged giants and the latter a much smaller creature that walked on the two 3-toed feet of its back legs. These are the first dinosaur tracks found on the Arabian peninsula, an area where dinosaur fossils have been extremely rare. Previously, the only things found have been a few isolated bones uncovered in Oman along with fragments possibly from a sauropod in Yemen. It also represents the only multi-taxon dinosaur ichnosite in the Middle East which is also not known for very many dinosaur fossil discoveries.

Mohammed Al-Daheri, local journalist, spotted the ornithopod tracks around 47km (29.2 miles) north of the capital Sana’a near the village of Madar back in 2003. He notified a paleontologist at Sana’a University, Mohammed Al-Wosi, who in turn notified Anne Schulup of the Maastricht Natuurhistorisch Museum in The Netherlands, and Nancy Stevens of Ohio State, who investigated the area of December 2006. During their search they found the nearby sauropod tracks.

After measuring the shape and angle of the different digits of the fifteen 56cm (22”) long ornithopod footprints they were able to determine that the dinosaur was approximately 6-7 meters (19.6-23’) long from head to tail and was walking along at between 3-4kph (1.8-2.5mph). Although ornithopods and sauropods overlapped in time, it’s a tad unusual to find evidence of such a large ornithopod in the Late Jurassic, the epoch that these tracks date from, the researchers explained. It may mean that large ornithopods came along earlier than previously thought – at least in the Southern Hemisphere.

The sauropod tracks were made by both large and small members (presumably young and old) and their spacing indicates they were all strolling along together at roughly 3kph (1.8mph). The longest of these trackways is 16 meters (52.5’) and consists of 16 consecutive footprints.

"It's rare to see such a big example of a dinosaur herd. This is interesting social behavior for reptiles," Schulp said. "I'm really excited by finding out that the whole herd is walking at the same speed, with the younger ones having to walk a bit quicker — making short steps at a higher frequency — and the big ones walking at the same speed with long steps at a lower frequency. It just works out wonderfully well."

All concerned have expressed their confidence that the find will usher in more discoveries in the near future primarily due to an abundance of near-by similarly-aged outcrops in the vicinity. And for both types of tracks discovered the potential exists for uncovering additional tracks by further exposing the layer along the northern edge of the site.

Further Reading:

First Dinosaur Tracks from the Arabian Peninsula Abstract & Paper

First Dinosaur Tracks Discovered On Arabian Peninsula

First dino tracks found in ancient Arabia

Rare Dinosaur Tracks Found on Arabian Peninsula

Frozen in time beneath the desert heat: dinosaur footprints

Since I was mentioning dinosaur trackways, I should have added that what is thought to be the longest baby dinosaur track was recently uncovered in Euiseong County, of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It consist of 61 footprints of two baby sauropods dated at approximately 110 mya. This is another multi-taxon dinosaur ichnosite because carnivore tracks have located running alongside them. The young sauropods were estimated at moving at 3-5kph (1.8-3.1mph) while the larger carnivorous dinosaur was estimated at moving at 3-10kph (1.8-6.2mph). According to the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, the fossils tracks indicate that it is possible that a number of different carnivorous dinosaurs may have been approaching from different directions but converging toward the baby dinosaurs.

Further Reading:

World Biggest Dinosaur Tracks Found in Korea

World's Longest Baby Dinosaur Track Found in Korea

[wattsr1]

'Nuther wun cumming up Rogue06:-

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...080522-13.html

Looks like another gap to fill in now.


Regards, Roland

[rogue06]

'Nuther wun cumming up Rogue06:-

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...080522-13.html

Looks like another gap to fill in now.


Regards, Roland

Being the "frogamander" is a transitional I put it in the Time for YECs to Reconsider Transitional Fossils? thread

[wattsr1]

Being the "frogamander" is a transitional I put it in the Time for YECs to Reconsider Transitional Fossils? thread

Ahh that's the thread.

When I put it here, there was a thought in the back of my mind that this was the wrong thread.

So thank you.


Regards, Roland

[rogue06]

Ahh that's the thread.

When I put it here, there was a thought in the back of my mind that this was the wrong thread.

So thank you.


Regards, Roland

No. Thank you. I didn't mean for the response to sound curt.

[wattsr1]

No. Thank you. I didn't mean for the response to sound curt.

Oh no R06. You did not sound curt at all. I was simply thanking you.

I use up all my bad manners on Jorge and Calminian.


Regards, Roland

[Dr.GH]

Here is another gap filled.

'Frog-amander' Fossil Fills Evolutionary Gap

By Jeanna Bryner, Senior Writer

[rogue06]

Here is another gap filled.

'Frog-amander' Fossil Fills Evolutionary Gap

By Jeanna Bryner, Senior Writer

Here is the letter concerning it in Nature: A stem batrachian from the Early Permian of Texas and the origin of frogs and salamanders

[rogue06]

The “Carolina Bays,” small bodies of water that are found stretching from North Florida up to New Jersey, are named for the abundance of Bay Trees that are found around them. One of the many folktales surrounding the creation of them is that they were formed by gigantic prehistoric whales that had gotten stranded on the beach and made the depressions as they flopped around trying to get back to the ocean.

The reason that I bring up this old legend is that in the largest of the Bay Lakes in North Carolina, Lake Waccamaw, located 20-some miles west of Wilmington, a fossilized skull of a baleen whale that was probably about 20’ (0.6 meters) long was discovered. Most of it has been recovered, including the section of jaw that Cathy Nelson, who was the one who discovered the fossil, kept stepping on as she walked around in the waist-deep water near her pier. The skull was partially encased in limestone and appears to be relatively intact (rare for whale skulls found in the area), and cautiously optimistic that there are other bones left to be found. And the whale skull may be the largest found in the state, but is still at least a thousand times too small to be from the whales whose flopping about are responsible for creating the lakes.

Further Reading:

Whale of a find in Lake Waccamaw

Digging for prehistoric whale bones on Lake Waccamaw

[rogue06]

Shark teeth are one of the most common fossilized animal parts found. This has a lot to do with the fact shark’s are constantly replacing their teeth (which aren’t attached to the jaw but are embedded in the flesh, with multiple rows of them continuously moving forward as if on some sort of conveyor belt), few of which last even a month before being “shed.” I once read that a shark can lose well over 20,000 teeth during its lifetime. And considering that sharks have been around for nearly 400 million years, that makes for a lot of potential candidates for fossilization (which takes about 10,000 years in the ocean).

As the teeth sit on the ocean floor they absorb minerals from the sediment which is what turns them different colors over time. A very general rule of thumb is that the darker the tooth is the older it is. But darkness of color isn’t always a good indicator and tides and currents tend to deposit them willy-nilly, hence accurately identifying the actual age of a shark’s tooth has been far from an exact science. But that may have finally changed.

A team led by Martin Becker, an associate professor of environmental science at William Paterson University, New Jersey, analyzed shark teeth (primarily those identified as having come from Scapanorhynchus texanus, a.k.a., the “goblin shark of Texas” and “spade snout”) and may have come up with a way to accurately date them.

The researchers studied the strontium isotope composition from the three primary parts of the tooth – the roots, the pulp cavity and the enamel surface since there is a radioactive component in the isotopes that, due to decay, slowly increases over time. When this is compared with the part of strontium’s atoms that doesn’t change, an age can be determined. They further discovered that the enamel provided far more precise information than the other parts of the tooth, which means that any analysis conducted in the future probably should primarily concentrate on the hard enamel surfaces of the tooth. IIRC, this concurs with some other recent findings on other very different creatures.

"We expect that enamel in any creature would be less susceptible to alteration after its formation than the other dental tissues, probably because enamel is well-crystallized and not as porous as dentine," explained David Seidemann, a Brooklyn College geochemist and a co-author of the paper, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Additionally, this technique appears to be useful in attempting to reconstruct what the environments that the sharks whose teeth are being studied lived in, since the chemical makeup of the teeth typically locks in specific isotopic signatures of the seawater in which the shark lived.

This new dating method was able to determine that the teeth they tested, which came from a near vertical cliff cut by Trussels Creek in Greene County, in western Alabama, were approximately 78.8 to 79.2 myo.

“Judging from the abundance of shark teeth preserved in the Cretaceous of Alabama, sharks were abundant in Alabama seas during the Cretaceous,” Martin Becker said. “Shark teeth are also abundant, however, in Cretaceous deposits of the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic coastal plain, so it's pretty clear that they were abundant up and down the coast of what is now the United States.”


Further Reading:

Sharks Ruled Alabama's Dino-Era Waters