Dig out for world's largest dinosaur field

New Delhi, Dec 30: Some reminiscences of Jurassic Park. A team of paleontologists has unearthed a dinosaur fossil field in eastern China that appears to be the largest in the world.
More than 7,600 fossils have been discovered so far in Zhucheng City in eastern Shandong Province and the number is climbing, according to Zhao Xijin, the paleontologist in charge of the project.

"The discoveries are expected to contribute to research on the mystery of dinosaur extinction," Zhao said. He added that the fossils dated mainly from the Late Cretaceous of the Mesozoic Period, when dinosaurs became extinct. The city has a major field of large hadrosaurus fossils, discovered in the 1960s by a Chinese oil expedition. More than 50 tons of fossils have been discovered since then.

The world's largest hadrosaurus fossil was found here in the 1980s and exhibited in the local museum. A new fossil site was found during another mining expedition in March in Longdu, Shunwang, Jiayue and Zhigou Towns. One field in Longdu is 300meters long by 10m wide and 5m deep. More than 3,000 fossils have been found at that site, among which new genera or species might be found, Zhao said.

A 2m skull of a large ceratopsian was found here, the first such discovery outside of North America, according to Xu Xing, researcher of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. In the 15 sub-fields, other new genera of ankylosaurus, tyrannosaurus and ceolurus were also found, he added.According to current research, the region might have been a watery area with abundant grass. That would have made it an ideal habitat for duck-billed dinosaurs, Zhao said.

The geologists said that there might have been a volcanic eruption that was fatal to the dinosaurs and later a flood that brought the fossils to their resting place.

ANI