Csotonyi illustration: Portrayal of Utahraptors and prey caught in quicksand deposit of the Stikes Quarry bone bed at Utahraptor Ridge. A recent geological research study has actually found that the Utahraptor, the worlds largest “raptor” dinosaur, is 10 million years older than previously believed, now estimated to be at least 135 million years old. The revised age indicates the rocks at the Stikes Quarry are at least 135 million years old.” Before, we had a 25-million-year space in between them,” stated Kirkland, who first named and described the dinosaur Utahraptor ostrommaysi in 1993. Anything can happen over 25 million years if you have no record of whats going on.
Csotonyi illustration: Portrayal of Utahraptors and prey caught in quicksand deposit of the Stikes Quarry bone bed at Utahraptor Ridge. A recent geological research study has actually discovered that the Utahraptor, the worlds largest “raptor” dinosaur, is 10 million years older than previously thought, now estimated to be at least 135 million years of ages. Credit: Julius Csotonyi, nature illustrator
The Utahraptor, the worlds biggest “raptor” dinosaur, is now approximated to be 135 million years of ages, 10 million years older than formerly believed. The discovery has crucial implications for dinosaur evolutionary history and narrows the space in the rock record in between the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods in Utah.
Utahraptor is going to require 10 million more candles on its next birthday cake.
A geological research study of the rock formation that enclosed a fossilized example of the worlds biggest “raptor” shows its 10 million years older than formerly comprehended. The report, co-written by a scientist with the University of Kansas, was recently published in the journal Geosciences.
” We determined the age of the dinosaur Utahraptor and discovered that it was much older than formerly expected,” said Gregory Ludvigson, emeritus senior scientist with the Kansas Geological Survey at KU, who worked together on the investigation. “That finding has crucial ramifications for the evolutionary history of dinosaurs.”
The fieldwork happened in Utah at the well-known Utahraptor Ridge site, called for larger cousins of the ferocious velociraptor dinosaur (known to fans of “Jurassic Park”).
The ridge is home to Stikes Quarry, a fossil quicksand deposit packed with dinosaur fossils that are mainly undamaged and preserved– in similar positions as when they passed away. Stikes Quarry is part of the Cedar Mountain Formation, a rock system including fossils of more sort of dinosaurs than any development worldwide.
Greg Ludvigson on outcrop of colorful buried soils of the Yellow Cat Member in May 2009. Credit: Photo courtesy of Matt Joeckel
” We likewise learned to our total surprise that the rock strata from the Stikes Dinosaur Quarry were deposited during an international modification episode known as the Weissert Event,” Ludvigson stated. “This is an agenda-setting discovery that will resound for decades.”
More than a decade earlier, Ludvigson, along with Jim Kirkland, state paleontologist with the Utah Geological Survey, and Matt Joeckel, state geologist and director of the Conservation and Survey Division at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, joined together to tackle that question.
The scientists and colleagues they hired took 2 research study approaches: One path– uranium/lead dating of zircon crystals– involved studying samples of these minerals gathered at various depths in the rock layers. The second looked at changes in the relative abundance of two types of stable carbon isotopes discovered in buried natural matter.
Andreas Möller and Noah McLean at the Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory in the KU Department of Geology. Credit: University of Kansas
By comparing results to durations in Earths history when global modifications in the carbon cycle were known to have occurred, the team showed rocks in the Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation– and the Utahraptor fossils found within– are 10 million years older than formerly known.
Earlier quotes put the age of the rocks and fossils at 125 million years of ages.
” Thats a lot of evolutionary time,” Ludvigson stated. “Its kind of a vindication of something Jims argued for a long time, however arguing doesnt put an absolute age on it, and thats crucial to him.”
The revised age suggests the rocks at the Stikes Quarry are at least 135 million years of ages. The lower part of the Yellow Cat Member encompasses even older strata. The findings narrow the gap in the rock record at the border between the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods in Utah.
” Before, we had a 25-million-year gap in between them,” stated Kirkland, who first called and described the dinosaur Utahraptor ostrommaysi in 1993. “Thats a 3rd of the age of mammals, more than double the length of time for hominid development. Its a huge piece of time. Anything can happen over 25 million years if you have no record of whats going on. Weve plugged that record, for the a lot of part.”
Reference: “Berriasian– Valanginian Geochronology and Carbon-Isotope Stratigraphy of the Yellow Cat Member, Cedar Mountain Formation, Eastern Utah, USA” by Robert M. Joeckel, Celina A. Suarez, Noah M. McLean, Andreas Möller, Gregory A. Ludvigson, Marina B. Suarez, James I. Kirkland, Joseph Andrew, Spencer Kiessling and Garrett A. Hatzell, 26 January 2023, Geosciences.DOI: 10.3390/ geosciences13020032.
Extra co-authors are Celina Suarez, University of Arkansas; Noah McLean, Andreas Möller, Marina Suarez, Joseph Andrew and Spencer Kiessling, KU; and Garrett Hatzell, University of Arkansas.