Discovery of fossils of aquatic reptiles...information that opens the door to historical research
Expressive image of fossils (Photo: shutterstock/Andreas Wolochow)
A research team led by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, has filled a major gap in the state's fossil record - describing the first known Jurassic vertebrate fossils in Texas.
Discovery 150 million years ago
Fossils of aquatic reptiles discovered (source: pexels)
According to dailymail.co.uk, scientists have made the astonishing discovery of bone fragments from the limbs and spine, weathered over the years, of plesiosaurs, an extinct marine reptile that used to swim in the shallow sea that covered what is now northeastern Mexico and far West Texas The discovery is a window into the shallow sea that once covered the arid deserts of northeastern Mexico and western Texas 150 million years ago.
Researchers and scientists discovered the bones in the Malone Mountains in West Texas during two fossil-hunting missions led by Steve May, research associate at the University of Austin's Jackson Museum of Earth Sciences in Austin.
The unearthed fossil is among the first Jurassic vertebrate fossils ever discovered and described in Texas. Prior to the discovery, the only Jurassic fossils collected and described from the Texas outcroppings were marine aquatic invertebrates, such as ammonites and snails. May says the new fossil finds are strong evidence that Jurassic bones are here.
“Jurassic vertebrates have been found there,” he says, noting that scientists have found some, “but there is more to discover that can tell the story of what this part of Texas was like during the Jurassic period.”
The Jurassic era is a creative prehistoric era
According to news.utexas.edu, A paper describing the bones and other fossils was published in the journal Rocky Mountain Geology on June 23.
According to the research paper, the Jurassic Period was an iconic prehistoric era when giant dinosaurs walked the Earth. However, the only reason we humans know about these creatures and other Jurassic life is by discovering the fossils or remains that they left behind.
But to find fossils dating back to the Jurassic Period, scientists need rocks from the Jurassic Period, and because of Texas's geologic history, the state barely has any outcrops from this time in Earth's history.
Source: websites