Before the discovery, the only fossils from the Jurassic that had actually been collected and described from outcrops in Texas were from marine invertebrates, such as ammonites and snails. Might stated that the new fossil discovers serve as solid evidence that Jurassic bones are here.
” Folks, there are Jurassic vertebrates out there,” May said. “We found some of them, but theres more to be found that can inform us the story of what this part of Texas resembled throughout the Jurassic.”
Steve May (left) and Lisa Boucher hold Jurassic fossils from the Malone Mountains of West Texas among the cabinets of the vertebrate paleontology collections at The University of Texas at Austin, where the fossils are now kept. Both May and Boucher are authors on a recent paper on the very first Jurassic vertebrates discovered and explained in Texas.
A paper explaining the bones and other fossils was released in Rocky Mountain Geology on June 23.
The Jurassic was a renowned ancient period when giant dinosaurs strolled the Earth. The only reason we humans know about them, and other Jurassic life, is because of fossils they left.
But to find Jurassic-aged fossils, you require Jurassic-aged rocks. The state hardly has any outcrops from this time in Earths history because of the geological history of Texas. The 13 square miles of Jurassic-aged rocks in the Malone Mountains make up the majority of those rocks in the state.
In 2015, when May discovered while researching a book that there were no Jurassic bones in the Texas fossil record, he decided to go to the Malone Mountains to check out.
” You simply do not desire to think that there are no Jurassic bones in Texas,” May stated. “Plus, there was a tantalizing hint.”
Steve May, a research study associate at the Jackson School of Geosciences, holds a fossil from a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile. The fossil is amongst the very first Jurassic vertebrate fossils discovered and explained in Texas. Credit: Jackson School of Geosciences/ The University of Texas at Austin
It was enough of a lead to get May and his collaborators out to West Texas to see for themselves. The plesiosaur fossils are worn down and broken up.
Its a start that could lead to more science, said co-author Louis Jacobs, a professor emeritus at SMU.
” Geologists are going to head out there trying to find more bones,” Jacobs said. “Theyre going to discover them, and theyre going to search for the other things that intrigue them in their own special ways.”
Today, the Malone Mountains rise above the dry desert landscape. During the Jurassic, the sediments were deposited simply below sea level probably within miles of the coastline.
The group found a number of other specimens that provide an appearance into the ancient shallow marine environment, such as scared driftwood filled with burrows from marine worms and the shells of ammonites, clams, and snails. The researchers found a variety of plant fossils, including a pinecone, and wood with possible growth rings.
The Malone Mountains of West Texas. Texas has extremely few outcrops of Jurassic rocks.
Worldwide, Jurassic plant fossils from lower latitudes close to the Earths equator are reasonably rare, said co-author and paleobotanist Lisa Boucher, the director of the Jackson Schools Non-Vertebrate Paleontology Lab. She stated the plant discovers must make the Malones a place of interest to other paleobotanists and those interested in paleoenvironmental restoration.
Scientists have been performing research in the Malones for over 100 years. So, why did it take so long to bring back Jurassic bones? May has several concepts– from remoteness of the area and permitting, to the research study interests of past scientists. Whatever the factors, Boucher stated that the teams discovery of a Texas first shows the worth of fieldwork– simply taking a trip to a location to see whats there.
” Its frequently part of the clinical procedure,” Boucher stated. “Therere a couple of lines buried in an old publication, and you think undoubtedly someone has actually currently looked at that, but frequently they havent. You need to explore it.”
Reference: “A record of Late Jurassic vertebrates from Texas” by Steven R. May, Kenneth S. Bader, Lisa D. Boucher, Louis L. Jacobs, Joshua R. Lively, Timothy S. Myers and Michael J. Polcyn, 1 June 2023, Rocky Mountain Geology.DOI: 10.24872/ rmgjournal.58.1.19.
The studys extra co-authors are Kenneth Bader, a laboratory manager at the Jackson School Museum of Earth History; Joshua Lively, the curator of paleontology at Utah State University and a Jackson School alumnus; and Timothy Myers and Michael Polcyn, both researchers at Southern Methodist University.
Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin discovered the very first known Jurassic vertebrate fossils in Texas, specifically from a plesiosaur, in the Malone Mountains of West Texas. These fossils fill a significant space in Texass fossil record, previously controlled by marine invertebrates. An artists analysis of a Jurassic plesiosaur.
A team led by scientists from The University of Texas at Austin has revealed the first-ever Jurassic vertebrate fossils found in Texas, filling a substantial gap in the states fossil history.
These ancient bone residues, found to be from the extremities and spinal column of a plesiosaur, provide a glance into the prehistoric times when this extinct marine animal navigated the shallow waters that when spanned contemporary northeastern Mexico and the far west of Texas around 150 million years back.
The bones were found in the Malone Mountains of West Texas during 2 fossil hunting missions led by Steve May, a research study partner at UT Austins Jackson School of Geosciences Museum of Earth History.
Scientists from The University of Texas at Austin discovered the first known Jurassic vertebrate fossils in Texas, specifically from a plesiosaur, in the Malone Mountains of West Texas. These fossils fill a significant space in Texass fossil record, formerly controlled by marine invertebrates. Steve May (left) and Lisa Boucher hold Jurassic fossils from the Malone Mountains of West Texas amongst the cabinets of the vertebrate paleontology collections at The University of Texas at Austin, where the fossils are now kept. Both May and Boucher are authors on a recent paper on the very first Jurassic vertebrates discovered and described in Texas. The fossil is amongst the very first Jurassic vertebrate fossils discovered and described in Texas.