Monster Fossil Discovered in the Arctic
10.10.2006 - Other
Palaeontologists from the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum have discovered 150 million-year-old fossils of plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs (two groups of extinct marine reptiles) in a remote part of Spitsbergen, the largest island in Norwegian archipelago.
Ichthyosaurs bore a passing resemblance to modern dolphins, but they used an upright tail fin to propel themselves through the water. Plesiosaurs, on the other hand, used two sets of powerful flippers for swimming. Based on their their 3 metre long skull, it is thought that pliosaurs could have been up to 8 metres long.
"What's amazing here is that it looks like we have a complete skeleton. No other complete pliosaur skeletons are known anywhere in the world," said Dr Hurum, the leader of the Svalbard excavation.
The remarkable preservation of the specimens could be due to the unusual chemistry of the mud in which they were found. After the marine reptiles died, their carcasses came to rest in mud at the bottom of the deep and relatively cool ocean, where little or no oxygen was present.
The Oslo's Natural History Museum plans to return to the field site in the summer of 2007 to resume excavations.
