In the red and sandstone country of eastern Utah, near the famous arches of Moab, a newly opened dig has begun to coax a question out of very old ground. Scientists estimate the buried bones could be between 138 and 141 million years old, placing them at the seam where the Jurassic gave way to the Cretaceous, a stretch of deep time that has long resisted easy reading. Whether the site holds one of the continent's oldest dinosaur bonebeds, and perhaps an animal no one has yet named, remains an open hope rather than a settled fact. For now, the earth is being asked to tell its story slowly, one
Moab Dig Site May Hold North America's Oldest Cretaceous Dinosaur Bonebed
In the red and sandstone country of eastern Utah, near the famous arches of Moab, a newly opened dig has begun to coax a question out of very old ground. Scientists estimate the buried bones could be between 138 and 141 million years old, placing them at the seam where the Jurassic gave way to the Cretaceous, a stretch of deep time that has long resisted easy reading. Whether the site holds one of the continent's oldest dinosaur bonebeds, and perhaps an animal no one has yet named, remains an open hope rather than a settled fact. For now, the earth is being asked to tell its story slowly, one layer at a time.
In mid-October, a new excavation opened outside Moab, Utah, in the country that surrounds Arches National Park. The scientists working the ground believe it may be unusually old, possibly one of the oldest Cretaceous dinosaur bonebeds in North America.
The heart of the claim is age. Experts estimate the fossils could date back 138 to 141 million years, placing them at the boundary between the Jurassic and the Cretaceous, a window of deep time that has been harder to read than most. That placement is also why researchers suspect the site may hold a new dinosaur species, since material from this seam is where an unfamiliar animal might surface.
The larger hope lies in the boundary itself. Scientists believe the site could help explain a mass extinction that marked the shift from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous, a major turning point in the evolution of life. The people involved describe the opportunity with real excitement.
Yet every claim here is still a possibility. The bonebed could be among the oldest, the fossils could fall within that age range, and a new species could be present, but none of this is confirmed. The dig has only just begun. Watch for what emerges from the ground in the coming months, and whether dating and analysis bear out those early estimates.
A new excavation site outside Moab, in eastern Utah, opened for digging in mid-October, and the scientists working it think the ground there may be unusually old. The site sits near Arches National Park, and experts in Utah say it could be one of the oldest Cretaceous dinosaur bonebeds in North America.
The age is the heart of the claim. Experts estimate that fossils at the site could date back 138 to 141 million years. That range places the bones at the boundary between two geologic periods, the Jurassic and the Cretaceous, which is a stretch of deep time that has been harder to read than many others.
That placement is also why researchers are thinking about something more than an old bonebed. Based in part on the site's age, they believe it could contain a new dinosaur species. The reasoning is tied to timing: material from the seam between the two periods is a place where an unfamiliar animal might turn up.
The larger hope is about what happened at that boundary. Scientists say the site could help them understand a mass extinction that occurred during the transition from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous. They describe the site as potentially holding the key to understanding a major evolutionary turning point, and the people involved are described as ecstatic about the opportunity.
The caution that belongs with all of this is that the claims are framed as possibilities. The fossils could date to that range; the site could contain a new species; the bonebed could be among the oldest. Those are the expectations of experts at the start of the dig, not confirmed findings. The excavation has only just begun, and confirming both the age of the bones and whether they represent a new species will require further study.
What to watch for is the work itself: what comes out of the ground near Moab in the coming months, and whether dating and analysis support the early estimates of 138 to 141 million years.
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Experts say the site could be one of the oldest Cretaceous bonebeds in North America and may help explain a Jurassic-to-Cretaceous mass extinction.— Utah experts, as reported by KSL News
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