"Bones upon bones, we couldn't believe our eyes."
With these words paleontologist Oliver Wings (Museum für Naturkunde,
Berlin) describes his team's reaction to a spectacular fossil find - a
Jurassic turtle "bone bed" in the Xinjiang province in China.
Approximately 1800 turtle fossils have been found there, approximately
doubling the number of individual turtle fossils we have from the
Jurassic.
Due to the large number of
fossils, researchers can make statistical analyses of growth, morphology
and variability - the first analyses of Asian turtles in the Jurassic
period. Turtles are not the only fossils to have been found here, as
other expeditions have unearthed the remains of sharks, dinosaurs,
crocodiles and early mammals.
Though now one of the world's
driest regions, 160 million years ago Xinjiang province was a very
different place indeed. Lakes and rivers were present and the area
supported an abundance of life. However climate change brought with it
seasonal droughts, resulting in this great find.
In times of
drought, turtles would gather en masse in one of the region's waterholes
to await the rain. Turtles in Australia show this same behaviour. But
these turtles were unlucky; they were already dead by the time the rains
came, their bodies and the sediments washed into one place and dumped
there. Researchers are now waiting for sponsors so they can embark on
further field studies and find out more about the dinosaur finds.
Photo credit: Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
"Bones upon bones, we couldn't believe our eyes."
With these words paleontologist Oliver Wings (Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin) describes his team's reaction to a spectacular fossil find - a Jurassic turtle "bone bed" in the Xinjiang province in China. Approximately 1800 turtle fossils have been found there, approximately doubling the number of individual turtle fossils we have from the Jurassic.
With these words paleontologist Oliver Wings (Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin) describes his team's reaction to a spectacular fossil find - a Jurassic turtle "bone bed" in the Xinjiang province in China. Approximately 1800 turtle fossils have been found there, approximately doubling the number of individual turtle fossils we have from the Jurassic.
Due to the large number of
fossils, researchers can make statistical analyses of growth, morphology
and variability - the first analyses of Asian turtles in the Jurassic
period. Turtles are not the only fossils to have been found here, as
other expeditions have unearthed the remains of sharks, dinosaurs,
crocodiles and early mammals.
Though now one of the world's driest regions, 160 million years ago Xinjiang province was a very different place indeed. Lakes and rivers were present and the area supported an abundance of life. However climate change brought with it seasonal droughts, resulting in this great find.
In times of drought, turtles would gather en masse in one of the region's waterholes to await the rain. Turtles in Australia show this same behaviour. But these turtles were unlucky; they were already dead by the time the rains came, their bodies and the sediments washed into one place and dumped there. Researchers are now waiting for sponsors so they can embark on further field studies and find out more about the dinosaur finds.
Photo credit: Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
Though now one of the world's driest regions, 160 million years ago Xinjiang province was a very different place indeed. Lakes and rivers were present and the area supported an abundance of life. However climate change brought with it seasonal droughts, resulting in this great find.
In times of drought, turtles would gather en masse in one of the region's waterholes to await the rain. Turtles in Australia show this same behaviour. But these turtles were unlucky; they were already dead by the time the rains came, their bodies and the sediments washed into one place and dumped there. Researchers are now waiting for sponsors so they can embark on further field studies and find out more about the dinosaur finds.
Photo credit: Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
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