2021

Well-Preserved Embryo Found Inside Fossilized Dinosaur Egg

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGYYUs4x0S-xqMkRU8bnTsaQCIIvwW8kGWtDWswBayi_oRgML4sshZR0p7NqkAaIbWEu3nXy3kov0d0sTCw3CrkV-OTfB53jp6yET7uo1EBf8G0HLBrceJ5-YcotsmNEXRN8ReKS55vnSX7BAdcmGYBxMKpALtY1OSNAPy0DOcVZYb4P7vYdQ_Qi6n=s1306" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1306" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGYYUs4x0S-xqMkRU8bnTsaQCIIvwW8kGWtDWswBayi_oRgML4sshZR0p7NqkAaIbWEu3nXy3kov0d0sTCw3CrkV-OTfB53jp6yET7uo1EBf8G0HLBrceJ5-YcotsmNEXRN8ReKS55vnSX7BAdcmGYBxMKpALtY1OSNAPy0DOcVZYb4P7vYdQ_Qi6n=w640-h308" title="Photo of the oviraptorosaur embryo inside its fossilized egg. (Xing et al., iScience, 2021)" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of the oviraptorosaur embryo inside its fossilized egg. (Xing et al., iScience, 2021) </td></tr></tbody></table> A rare look inside a fossilized dinosaur egg found in southern China has revealed an exquisitely preserved embryo—and evidence suggesting that some of these prehistoric creatures had even more in common with modern birds than previously thought. A 72 to 66-million-year-old embryo found inside a fossilised dinosaur egg sheds new light on the link between the behaviour of modern birds and dinosaurs, according to a new study. The embryo, dubbed 'Baby Yingliang', was discovered in the Late Cretaceous rocks of Ganzhou, southern China and belongs to a toothless theropod dinosaur, or oviraptorosaur. Among the most complete dinosaur embryos ever found, the fossil suggests that these dinosaurs developed bird-like postures close to hatching. Scientists found the posture of 'Baby Yingliang' unique among known dinosaur embryos -- its head lies below the body, with the feet on either side and the back curled along the blunt end of the egg. Previously unrecognised in dinosaurs, this posture is similar to that of modern bird embryos. <div style="width:100%;margin: 0px auto">
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</div> In modern birds, such postures are related to 'tucking' -- a behaviour controlled by the central nervous system and critical for hatching success. After studying egg and embryo, researchers believe that such pre-hatching behaviour, previously considered unique to birds, may have originated among non-avian theropods. Led by scientists from the University of Birmingham and China University of Geosciences (Beijing), the research team from institutions in China, UK and Canada today published its findings in iScience. The embryo is articulated in its life position without much disruption from fossilisation. Estimated to be 27 cm long from head to tail, the creature lies inside a 17-cm-long elongatoolithid egg. The specimen is housed in Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum. Fion Waisum Ma, joint first author and PhD researcher at the University of Birmingham, said: "Dinosaur embryos are some of the rarest fossils and most of them are incomplete with the bones dislocated. We are very excited about the discovery of 'Baby Yingliang' -- it is preserved in a great condition and helps us answer a lot of questions about dinosaur growth and reproduction with it. "It is interesting to see this dinosaur embryo and a chicken embryo pose in a similar way inside the egg, which possibly indicates similar prehatching behaviours." 'Baby Yingliang' was identified as an oviraptorosaur based on its deep, toothless skull. Oviraptorosaurs are a group of feathered theropod dinosaurs, closely related to modern-day birds, known from the Cretaceous of Asia and North America. Their variable beak shapes and body sizes are likely to have allowed them to adopt a wide range of diets, including herbivory, omnivory and carnivory. Birds are known to develop a series of tucking postures, in which they bend their body and bring their head under their wing, soon before hatching. Embryos that fail to attain such postures have a higher chance of death due to unsuccessful hatching. By comparing 'Baby Yingliang' with the embryos of other theropods, long-necked sauropod dinosaurs and birds, the team proposed that tucking behaviour, which was considered unique to birds, first evolved in theropod dinosaurs many tens or hundreds of millions of years ago. Additional discoveries of embryo fossils would be invaluable to further test this hypothesis. Professor Lida Xing from China University of Geosciences (Beijing), joint first author of the study, said: "This dinosaur embryo was acquired by the director of Yingliang Group, Mr Liang Liu, as suspected egg fossils around the 2000. During the construction of Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum in 2010s, museum staff sorted through the storage and discovered the specimens. "These specimens were identified as dinosaur egg fossils. Fossil preparation was conducted and eventually unveiled the embryo hidden inside the egg. This is how 'Baby Yingliang' was brought to light." Professor Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh, part of the research team, said: "This dinosaur embryo inside its egg is one of the most beautiful fossils I have ever seen. This little prenatal dinosaur looks just like a baby bird curled in its egg, which is yet more evidence that many features characteristic of today's birds first evolved in their dinosaur ancestors."  The above story is based on <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2021/12/embryo-found-inside-fossilised-dinosaur-egg.aspx" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #004276; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Materials</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> provided by <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #004276; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">University of Birmingham</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">.

Well-Preserved Embryo Found Inside Fossilized Dinosaur Egg

Photo of the oviraptorosaur embryo inside its fossilized egg. (Xing et al., iScience, 2021) A rare look inside a fossilized dinosaur egg fou...

Ancient Pine Cone Trapped in Amber Shows a Super-Rare Form of Plant 'Parenting'

amber, Fossils 6:59 PM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrbwD1-B86ztofObkI5BW9wdIho1S7TytTupiRNLjCM2Y_0b43AOy9qYJizIkCiC_m3AUbeoN1XU8DuLCvc3jXgyJyBGok-gV09AYB0WF5iIlRWsm3kD3lXZSO2mib_M99gGIVd_XluHHwAReAPDDHkH4JHi1a-sF5dC64zRYMcqOD0-c6HRqwPShN=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ancient Pine Cone Trapped in Amber Shows a Super-Rare Form of Plant 'Parenting'" border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrbwD1-B86ztofObkI5BW9wdIho1S7TytTupiRNLjCM2Y_0b43AOy9qYJizIkCiC_m3AUbeoN1XU8DuLCvc3jXgyJyBGok-gV09AYB0WF5iIlRWsm3kD3lXZSO2mib_M99gGIVd_XluHHwAReAPDDHkH4JHi1a-sF5dC64zRYMcqOD0-c6HRqwPShN=w640-h300" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: (Poinar, Historical Biology, 2021) </td></tr></tbody></table>  An exceptional amber deposit from roughly 40 million years ago has captured a rare form of parental care in plants – so rare it's only been reported once before on Earth. In a paper published in Historical Biology, George Poinar Jr. of the Oregon State College of Science describes a pine cone, approximately 40 million years old, encased in Baltic amber from which several embryonic stems are emerging. “Crucial to the development of all plants, seed germination typically occurs in the ground after a seed has fallen,” said Poinar, an international expert in using plant and animal life forms preserved in amber to learn about the biology and ecology of the distant past. “We tend to associate viviparity – embryonic development while still inside the parent – with animals and forget that it does sometimes occur in plants.” Most typically, by far, those occurrences involve angiosperms, Poinar said. Angiosperms, which directly or indirectly provide most of the food people eat, have flowers and produce seeds enclosed in fruit. <div style="width:100%;margin: 0px auto">
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</div> “Seed germination in fruits is fairly common in plants that lack seed dormancy, like tomatoes, peppers and grapefruit, and it happens for a variety of reasons,” he said. “But it’s rare in gymnosperms.” Gymnosperms such as conifers produce “naked,” or non-enclosed, seeds. Precocious germination in pine cones is so rare that only one naturally occurring example of this condition, from 1965, has been described in the scientific literature, Poinar said. “That’s part of what makes this discovery so intriguing, even beyond that it’s the first fossil record of plant viviparity involving seed germination,” he said. “I find it fascinating that the seeds in this small pine cone could start to germinate inside the cone and the sprouts could grow out so far before they perished in the resin.” At the sprouts’ tips are needle clusters, some in bundles of five, associating the fossil with the extinct pine species Pinus cembrifolia, which was previously described from Baltic amber, Poinar said. Pine cones in Baltic amber are not commonly found, he added. The ones that do appear are prized by collectors and because the cones’ scales are hard, they’re usually very well preserved and appear lifelike. Viviparity in plants typically shows up in one of two ways, Poinar said. Precocious germination is the more common of the two, the other being vegetative viviparity, such as when a bulbil emerges directly from the flower head of a parent plant. “In the case of seed viviparity in this fossil, the seeds produced embryonic stems that are quite evident in the amber,” he said. “Whether those stems, known as hypocotyls, appeared before the cone became encased in amber is unclear. However, based on their position, it appears that some growth, if not most, occurred after the pine cone fell into the resin. “Often some activity occurs after creatures are entombed in resin, such as entrapped insects depositing eggs,” Poinar said. “Also, insect parasites sometimes flee their hosts into the resin after the latter become trapped. In the case of the pine cone, the cuticle covering the exposed portions of the shoots could have protected them from rapid entrance of the resin’s natural fixatives.” Research on viviparity in extant gymnosperms suggests the condition could be linked to winter frosts. Light frosts would have been possible if the Baltic amber forest had a humid, warm-temperate environment as has been posited, Poinar said. “This is the first fossil record of seed viviparity in plants but this condition probably occurred quite a bit earlier than this Eocene record,” he said. “There’s no reason why vegetative viviparity couldn’t have occurred hundreds of millions of years ago in ancient spore-bearing plants like ferns and lycopods.” The above story is based on <a href="https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/osu-study-yields-first-fossil-research-seeds-sprouting-amber-encased-pine-cone" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Oregon State University.</a>

Ancient Pine Cone Trapped in Amber Shows a Super-Rare Form of Plant 'Parenting'

Photo: (Poinar, Historical Biology, 2021) An exceptional amber deposit from roughly 40 million years ago has captured a rare form of paren...

Earth’s Early Magma Oceans Detected in 3.7 Billion Year-Old Greenland Rocks

earth, Earth History, Tectonic 6:42 PM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gzZeo72ilp0/YaeWvi5RhFI/AAAAAAAATaw/g8ABKS_yn2cWtd5qw7xpyl1Y3L5H1iW-wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/Earth-Core-Mantle-Crust%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gzZeo72ilp0/YaeWvi5RhFI/AAAAAAAATaw/g8ABKS_yn2cWtd5qw7xpyl1Y3L5H1iW-wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/Earth-Core-Mantle-Crust%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="The Earth is now composed of the inner core, the outer core, the lower mantle, the upper mantle, and the crust." width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Earth is now composed of the inner core, the outer core, the lower mantle, the upper mantle, and the crust.</td></tr></tbody></table> Earth hasn’t always been a blue and green oasis of life in an otherwise inhospitable solar system. During our planet’s first 50 million years, around 4.5 billion years ago, its surface was a hellscape of magma oceans, bubbling and belching with heat from Earth’s interior. The subsequent cooling of the planet from this molten state, and the crystallization of these magma oceans into solid rock, was a defining stage in the assembly of our planet’s structure, the chemistry of its surface, and the formation of its early atmosphere. These primeval rocks, containing clues that might explain Earth’s habitability, were assumed to have been lost to the ravages of plate tectonics. But now, my team has discovered the chemical remnants of Earth’s magma oceans in 3.7 billion year-old rocks from southern Greenland, revealing a tantalizing snapshot of a time when the Earth was almost entirely molten. <h4 style="text-align: left;">Hell on Earth</h4>Earth is the product of a chaotic early solar system, which is believed to have featured a number of catastrophic impacts between the Earth and other planetary bodies. The formation of Earth culminated in its collision with a Mars-sized impactor planet, which also resulted in the formation of Earth’s moon some 4.5 billion years ago. These cosmic clashes are thought to have generated enough energy to melt the Earth’s crust and almost all of our planet’s interior (the mantle), creating planetary-scale volumes of molten rock that formed “magma oceans” hundreds of kilometers in depth. Today, in contrast, Earth’s crust is entirely solid, and the mantle is seen as a “plastic solid”: allowing slow, viscous geological movement a far cry from the liquid magma of Earth’s early mantle. As the Earth recovered and cooled after its chaotic collisions, its deep magma oceans crystallized and solidified, beginning Earth’s journey to the planet we know today. The volcanic gases which bubbled out of Earth’s cooling magma oceans may have been decisive in the formation and composition of our planet’s early atmosphere – which would eventually support life. <h4 style="text-align: left;">Geological search</h4>Finding geological evidence for the Earth’s former molten state is extremely difficult. This is because magma ocean events are likely to have taken place over 4 billion years ago, and many of the rocks from that period of Earth’s history have since been recycled by plate tectonics. But while rocks from this period no longer exist, their chemical traces may still be stored in Earth’s depths. Solidified crystals from Earth’s cooling period would have been so dense that they’d have sunk to the base of Earth’s mantle. Scientists even believe that these mineral residues may be stored in isolated zones deep within Earth’s mantle-core boundary. <div style="width:100%;margin: 0px auto">
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</div> If they do exist, these ancient crystal graveyards are inaccessible to us – hiding far too deep for us to take direct samples. And if they were to ever rise to the Earth’s surface, the magma ocean crystals would naturally undergo a process of melting and solidifying, leaving only traces of their origins in the volcanic rocks that make it to Earth’s crust. <h4 style="text-align: left;">Crystal clues</h4>We knew Greenland would be a good place to search for these traces of Earth’s molten past. Our samples originate from the Isua supracrustal belt in southwestern Greenland, which is a famous area for geologists. At first glance, Isua’s rocks look just like any modern basalt you’d find on the seafloor. But these rocks are some of the oldest in the world, believed to be between 3.7 and 3.8 billion years old. On analyzing Isua’s rocks, we discovered unique iron isotope signatures. These signatures showed that the region of the mantle from which the rocks had formed had been subjected to very high pressure, over 700 kilometers below Earth’s surface. That’s exactly where minerals formed during magma ocean crystallization would have been located. But if these rocks did indeed bear traces of crystallized magma ocean, how did they find their way to the Earth’s surface? The answer lies in how the Earth’s interior melts, producing volcanic rocks on the planet’s surface. <h4 style="text-align: left;">Melting rocks</h4>When regions of the Earth’s semi-solid mantle heat up and melt, they rise buoyantly towards the Earth’s crust, ultimately producing volcanic rocks when the magma reaches the surface and cools. By studying the chemistry of these rocks on the surface, we can probe the composition of the material that melted to form them. The isotopic makeup of Isua rocks revealed that their journey to Earth’s surface involved several stages of crystallization and remelting in the interior of the planet – a kind of distillation process on their way to the surface. But the rocks that emerged, located in present-day Greenland, still retain chemical signatures that connect them to Earth’s magma-covered past. The results of our work provide some of the first direct geological evidence for the signature of magma ocean crystals in volcanic rocks found on Earth’s surface. Now, we’d like to understand whether other ancient volcanic rocks across the world can tell us more about Earth’s former magma oceans, or whether we’ve instead stumbled upon a geological oddity: more of a one-off clue. If other volcanoes may have spewed similar geological artifacts, we might also look to modern eruption hotspots such as Hawaii and Iceland for further isotopic novelties that speak of Earth’s ancient past. It’s possible that more primordial rocks may be found in the future which could help us understand more about the Earth’s violent, magma-covered past. <div><div><div><div>Written by Helen M. Williams, Reader in Geochemistry, University of Cambridge. This article was first published in <a href="https://theconversation.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. </div></div></div></div>

Earth’s Early Magma Oceans Detected in 3.7 Billion Year-Old Greenland Rocks

The Earth is now composed of the inner core, the outer core, the lower mantle, the upper mantle, and the crust. Earth hasn’t always been a...

Woman Finds 4.38-carat Diamond at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park

Diamonds, Mining, USA 8:22 PM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j7jNJNQA0H0/YZ_F5-3RZ5I/AAAAAAAATaY/cz0F1L5mRWc4ickP3xUy5d0VdPFVCdMbACLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/Woman%2BFinds%2B4.38-carat%2BDiamond%2Bat%2BArkansas%2527%2BCrater%2Bof%2BDiamonds%2BState%2BPark%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j7jNJNQA0H0/YZ_F5-3RZ5I/AAAAAAAATaY/cz0F1L5mRWc4ickP3xUy5d0VdPFVCdMbACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/Woman%2BFinds%2B4.38-carat%2BDiamond%2Bat%2BArkansas%2527%2BCrater%2Bof%2BDiamonds%2BState%2BPark%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="The Lucy Diamond discovered by Noreen Wredberg at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Photo courtesy of Arkansas State Parks." width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lucy Diamond discovered by Noreen Wredberg at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Photo courtesy of Arkansas State Parks. </td></tr></tbody></table>  Finders Keepers! A Lucky Retiree Visited an Arkansas National Park and Discovered a 4.38-Carat, Jellybean-Sized DiamondNoreen Wredberg and her husband, Michael, weren't really expecting to find anything at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park, she said, and she wasn't sure what she had found when she picked up a stone. A Northern California couple found a 4.38-carat yellow diamond while visiting Arkansas, making it the biggest piece of bling found this year at a state park known for yielding the shiny stones. Noreen and Michael Wredberg took a trip to two national parks in Arkansas last month, then decided on a whim to travel an hour south to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro. About 40 minutes into their walk, Noreen saw something sparkly on the ground. "I didn't know it was a diamond then, but it was clean and shiny, so I picked it up," she told park officials, according to a news release. "We really didn't think we would find one, let alone something that big." Since retiring in 2011, Noreen and her husband Michael have spent much of their leisure time traveling and visiting America’s National Parks. During a recent stop at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, Noreen realized that they were also close to another destination she had long wanted to visit, Crater of Diamonds State Park. <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;">
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</div> “I first saw the park featured on a TV show several years ago,” she said. “When I realized we weren’t too far away, I knew we had to come!” “Arkansas is the only state in the country that has a diamond mine open to the public,” said Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism Secretary Stacy Hurst. “It’s such a unique experience and visitors make lifetime memories, whether or not they find a diamond. Of course, finding a diamond adds to the experience!” The couple arrived at Crater of Diamonds on Thursday, September 23, a sunny-but-cool fall morning. She started to search in a shaded area near the mine entrance, but her husband suggested they venture farther out. “It was cold in the shade that morning,” Michael said, “so I told Noreen that we should go to the middle of the field, where it was warmer.” His suggestion paid off about 40 minutes later. She was walking just north of a central pathway in the search area when she spotted the sparkling gem on top of the ground. She said, “I didn’t know it was a diamond then, but it was clean and shiny, so I picked it up!” She gave the stone to her husband, who brought it to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center for identification. After examining the stone, park staff informed Michael that he was in possession of a very large yellow diamond. Park Superintendent Caleb Howell said, “When I first saw this diamond under the microscope, I thought, ‘Wow, what a beautiful shape and color!’ Mrs. Wredberg’s diamond weighs more than four carats and is about the size of a jellybean, with a pear shape and a lemonade yellow color.” Noreen was surprised and excited when park staff gave her the news a few minutes later, saying, “We really didn’t think we would find one, let alone something that big!” Park Interpreter Waymon Cox says that many of the park’s largest diamonds are found right on top of the ground. “We plow the search area periodically to loosen the soil and promote natural erosion. Diamonds are somewhat heavy for their size and lack static electricity, so dirt doesn’t stick to them. When rain uncovers a larger diamond and the sun comes out, its reflective surface is often easy to see.” Cox noted that weather conditions were perfect for Noreen to find her diamond. “Many visitors surface search for diamonds after a good rain. More than one inch of rain fell at the park between September 19 and 21. The soil had dried a little, and the sun was out when Mrs. Wredberg visited two days later. She was in just the right place to see her diamond sparkle in the morning sunlight!” Weighing 4.38 carats, Noreen’s diamond is the largest found at the park since last October, when a visitor from Fayetteville, Ark., . Finders of large Crater diamonds often choose to name their gems. Noreen named hers Lucy’s Diamond, for her husband’s kitten. “The name is sentimental to us. Lucy is mostly gray but has slight tints of yellow in her fur, similar to the light yellow of my diamond.” Noreen isn’t sure what she will do with her diamond but says she might have it cut, depending on the quality. “I don’t even know what it’s worth yet. It’s all new to me!” Park staff is not trained in diamond appraisals but offers resources to help finders decide what to do with their gems. As of this publication, 258 diamonds have been registered at Crater of Diamonds State Park in 2021, weighing more than 46 carats in total. An average of one to two diamonds are found by park visitors each day. <a href="https://www.geologyin.com/2016/08/the-only-diamond-mine-in-world-where.html" target="_blank">See:  The Only Diamond Mine In the World Where You Can Be the Miner</a> The above story is based on <a href="https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/news/visitor-finds-438-carat-diamond-crater-diamonds-state-park" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by <a href="https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Arkansas State Parks..</a>

Woman Finds 4.38-carat Diamond at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park

The Lucy Diamond discovered by Noreen Wredberg at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Photo courtesy of Arkansas State ...

100-Million-Year-Old Insect Fossil Intrigues Scientists

amber, evolution 7:56 PM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sizzIrbNh7M/YZvLSC37xDI/AAAAAAAATaM/GTUeG7myDHQqK62SvV7bQTwmJmU1dLZAACLcBGAsYHQ/s1275/100-Million-Year-Old%2BInsect%2BFossil%2BIntrigues%2BScientists%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1274" data-original-width="1275" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sizzIrbNh7M/YZvLSC37xDI/AAAAAAAATaM/GTUeG7myDHQqK62SvV7bQTwmJmU1dLZAACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/100-Million-Year-Old%2BInsect%2BFossil%2BIntrigues%2BScientists%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="100-Million-Year-Old Insect Fossil Intrigues Scientists" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Many fossil lacewing larvae possessed extremely elongated appendages and mouthparts. | © Joachim Haug </td></tr></tbody></table>  Scientists found an unusual fossil of an insect larva of the order neuropter (which includes animals known as "lion ants", similar to dragonflies) with different characteristics to the specimens we live with today, estimating that he has lived about 100 million years ago in forests that today correspond to the region of Myanmar (or Burma). All fossils are time capsules. But unlike many other finds, insects encapsulated in amber are often perfectly preserved. "Frequently, their external morphology is as well conserved as if they had been sealed in synthetic resin," says LMU zoologist Professor Joachim T. Haug. He and his colleagues have now obtained new insights into the evolutionary history of insects from specimens that were trapped in natural tree resins 100 million years ago, in forests in what is now Myanmar. Among the finds are fossil lacewing larvae whose morphology differs strikingly from that of the 'typical' insect larva. Their most unusual features are their elongated appendages -- particularly the mouthparts called stylets, which look like hypodermic needles. "As in the case of all modern species of lacewings, these larvae were probably predators, but we know nothing about their prey," says Haug. Modern species feed on aphids, immobilizing them by injecting them with venom, and then feeding on their contents. However, the cuticle of aphids is so soft that much smaller sucking appendages would be sufficient to penetrate them. "The long stylet may have acted as a means of keeping their wounded victims at a distance until the toxin began to take effect," Haug suggests. However, since the most extreme examples of elongated appendages are found in species that are now extinct, he and his colleagues believe that this body organization may have proven to be an evolutionary dead end.<div style="width:100%;margin: 0px auto">
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</div> <h4 style="text-align: left;">The fossil larvae shed light on ecology and developmental biology</h4>Given that lacewings are now comparatively rare, the degree of species richness of the lacewing group found among the amber-encased fossils from Myanmar suggests that the group was more diverse in the Cretaceous Period. This in turn implies that these insects played a much more prominent ecological role at that time. "They were probably an important constituent of the food chain, since they effectively transformed practically inedible materials into nutritious food for birds," says Haug. The fossils also shed light on another aspect of insect evolution. Up to now, it has been assumed that the relative lengths of structures such as antennae, sensory organs and legs are subject to developmental constraints. In most insect larvae, these body parts are usually significantly shorter than they are in the mature adult and -- generally speaking -- the larva is more worm-like in form. However, in many of the lacewing larvae found in amber, antennae, mouthparts and legs tend to be markedly elongated. "This demonstrates that, from the point of view of developmental biology, there are no strictly defined limits to the lengths of such structures," Haug points out. <h4 style="text-align: left;">The nature of the habitat</h4>However, one other aspect of insect evolution continues to puzzle developmental biologists. Did the first insects that were capable of flight spend their larval lives on land or in the water? Joachim Haug and his team found a clue to the solution in 99-million-year-old amber from Myanmar -- a specimen of the fossil dragonfly species Arcanodraco filicauda. They interpret the morphology of this find as indicating that the earliest flying insects spent the initial stages of their life cycle in water. Other evidence supports this notion. Dragonflies, mayflies and stoneflies represent very old lineages of flying insects -- and their modern descendants spend the larval phase (which can last for several years) in water, before they undergo metamorphosis and take to the air as -- short-lived -- adults. "It looks as if the earliest flying insects were highly dependent on an aquatic environment for reproduction," says Haug. Perhaps the first successful take-off from the surface of a pond was accomplished with the aid of wings that acted as sails. The above story is based on <a href="https://www.lmu.de/en/newsroom/news-overview/news/intriguing-insect-fossils-preserved-in-amber.html" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #004276; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Materials</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> provided by <a href="https://www.lmu.de/en" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #004276; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München</a><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">.

100-Million-Year-Old Insect Fossil Intrigues Scientists

Many fossil lacewing larvae possessed extremely elongated appendages and mouthparts. | © Joachim Haug Scientists found an unusual fossil o...

Trapiche Emerald: The Superstar of Trapiche Gemstones

gemstones, Mineralogy 6:52 PM

Trapiche Emerald: The Superstar of Trapiche Gemstones

Very rare crystal Trapiche Emerald from Muso Mine, Colombia. Photo: Cricksgemstone Trapiche emerald is a rare and highly valuable variety ...

Scientists Figure Out What Happens to Earth's Disappearing Crust

Earth History, Tectonic 7:55 PM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cXIaii43sR4/YZp5nk9pMVI/AAAAAAAATZ8/EBj_13R9bKk2a-qxDjiUswipmmMftC_1QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/fate-of-sinking-tecton%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="835" data-original-width="1280" height="418" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cXIaii43sR4/YZp5nk9pMVI/AAAAAAAATZ8/EBj_13R9bKk2a-qxDjiUswipmmMftC_1QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h418/fate-of-sinking-tecton%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="Modern plate tectonics may have only got going in the past billion years." width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Researchers including The University of Texas at Austin have published a study in Nature that says subducting tectonic plates become segmented like a slinky snake, in a process similar to geologic boudinage (pictured) but on a much larger scale. Credit: Haakon Fossen, Structural Geology/Cambridge University Press </td></tr></tbody></table>  Like a giant broken-up cookie whose pieces float atop a sea of scalding milk, Earth's outer shell is made of (less-tasty) rocky rafts that constantly bump into and dive beneath each other in a process called plate tectonics. Our world's surface is a jumble of jostling tectonic plates, with new ones emerging as others are pulled under. The ongoing cycle keeps our continents in motion and drives life on Earth. But what happens when a plate disappears into the planet's interior? The question has long puzzled scientists because conventional wisdom said that sinking tectonic plates must remain intact to keep pulling on the portion behind it, but according to geophysical evidence, they are destroyed. Now, in a study published in Nature, scientists say they've found an answer that reconciles the two stories: Plates are significantly weakened as they sink but not so much that they break apart entirely. The finding came after scientists put tectonic plates through a computer-generated gauntlet of destructive geologic forces. The model showed that as the plate enters the mantle, it bends abruptly downward, cracking its cold, brittle back. At the same time, the bending changes the fine grain structure of the rock along its underbelly, leaving it weakened. Combined, the stresses pinch the plate along its weak points, leaving it mostly intact but segmented like a slinky snake. <div style="width:100%;margin: 0px auto">
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</div> This means the plate continues to be pulled under despite becoming folded and distorted. According to the researchers, the model predicted a scenario that matches observations from Japan. Studies of the region where the Pacific tectonic plate dives -- or subducts -- under Japan have turned up large cracks where the plate bends downward, and they have shown signs of weaker material underneath. Deep seismic imaging conducted by The University of Texas at Austin's Steve Grand has also revealed tectonic shapes in the Earth's mantle under Japan that appear a close match for the slinky snake in the model. Co-author Thorsten Becker, a professor in UT's Jackson School of Geosciences, said that the study does not necessarily close the book on what happens to subducting plates, but it certainly gives a compelling case to explain several important geologic processes. "It's an example of the power of computational geosciences," said Becker who assisted in developing the model and is a faculty associate at UT's Oden Institute for Computational Engineering & Sciences. "We combined these two processes that geology and rock mechanics are telling us are happening, and we learned something about the general physics of how the Earth works that we wouldn't have expected. As a physicist, I find that exciting." The study's lead author, Taras Gerya, a professor of geophysics at ETH Zurich, added that until now, geophysicists had lacked a comprehensive explanation for how tectonic plates bend without breaking. Things got interesting when the researchers ran their simulations with a hotter interior, similar to the early Earth. In these simulations, the tectonic snake segments made it only a few miles into the mantle before breaking off. That means that subduction would have occurred intermittently, raising the possibility that modern plate tectonics began only within the past billion years. "Personally, I think there are a lot of good arguments for plate tectonics being much older," Becker said, "but the mechanism revealed by our model suggests things might be more sensitive to the temperature of the mantle than we thought, and that, I think, could lead to interesting new avenues of discussion." Becker and Gerya were joined by David Bercovici, a geophysicist at Yale University whose investigation into how rock grains are altered in the deep mantle helped motivate the research. The study is based on a two-dimensional computer model of plate tectonics incorporating Bercovici's rock deformation research and other plate-weakening mechanics. The researchers are now studying the phenomena using 3D models and plan to investigate what those models can tell them about the occurrence of earthquakes. The above story is based on  <a href="https://news.utexas.edu/2021/11/11/fate-of-sinking-tectonic-plates-is-revealed/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Materials</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> provided by <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">University of Texas at Austin</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">.

Scientists Figure Out What Happens to Earth's Disappearing Crust

Researchers including The University of Texas at Austin have published a study in Nature that says subducting tectonic plates become segment...

Uncovering the Surprising Secrets Behind Earth’s First Major Mass Extinction

Earth History, Fossils 8:27 PM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PR4jFcHwVdE/YZPojoumIWI/AAAAAAAATZs/4rX0IeynjEYCOWbItLxPVMTuhYTB0OvSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1238/1238px-LibertyFormationSlab092313%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1238" height="530" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PR4jFcHwVdE/YZPojoumIWI/AAAAAAAATZs/4rX0IeynjEYCOWbItLxPVMTuhYTB0OvSQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h530/1238px-LibertyFormationSlab092313%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="Fossiliferous limestone slab from the Liberty Formation (Upper Ordovician) of Caesar Creek State Park near Waynesville, Ohio. Photo: Willy Nelson." width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Fossiliferous limestone slab from the Liberty Formation (Upper Ordovician) of Caesar Creek State Park near Waynesville, Ohio. Photo: Willy Nelson.</td></tr></tbody></table>  Around 85% of marine species, most of which lived in shallow oceans near continents, disappeared during that time.We all know that the dinosaurs died in a mass extinction. But did you know that there were other mass extinctions? There are five most significant mass extinctions, known as the “big five,” where at least three-quarters of all species in existence across the entire Earth faced extinction during a particular geological period of time. With current trends of global warming and climate change, many researchers now believe we may be in a sixth. Discovering the root cause of Earth’s mass extinctions has long been a hot topic for scientists, as understanding the environmental conditions that led to the elimination of the majority of species in the past could potentially help prevent a similar event from occurring in the future. A team of scientists from Syracuse University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Riverside, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, the University of New Mexico, the University of Ottawa, the University of Science and Technology of China and Stanford University recently co-authored a paper exploring the Late Ordovician mass extinction (LOME), which is the first, or oldest of the “big five (~445 million years ago).” Around 85% of marine species, most of which lived in shallow oceans near continents, disappeared during that time. <div style="width:100%;margin: 0px auto">
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</div> Lead author Alexandre Pohl, from UC Riverside (now a postdoctoral research fellow at Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté in Dijon, France) and his co-authors investigated the ocean environment before, during, and after the extinction in order to determine how the event was brewed and triggered. The results from their study will be published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Nov. 1. To paint a picture of the oceanic ecosystem during the Ordovician Period, mass extinction expert Seth Finnegan, associate professor at UC Berkeley, says that seas were full of biodiversity. Oceans contained some of the first reefs made by animals, but lacked an abundance of vertebrates. “If you had gone snorkeling in an Ordovician sea you would have seen some familiar groups like clams and snails and sponges, but also many other groups that are now very reduced in diversity or entirely extinct like trilobites, brachiopods and crinoids” says Finnegan. Unlike with rapid mass extinctions, like the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event where dinosaurs and other species died off suddenly some 65.5 million years ago, Finnegan says LOME played out over a substantial period of time, with estimates between less than half a million to almost two million years. One of the major debates surrounding LOME is whether lack of oxygen in seawater caused that period’s mass extinction. To investigate this question, the team integrated geochemical testing with numerical simulations and computer modeling. Zunli Lu, professor of Earth and environmental sciences at Syracuse University, and his students took measurements of iodine concentration in carbonate rocks from that period, contributing important findings about oxygen levels at various ocean depths. The concentration of the element iodine in carbonate rocks serves as an indicator for changes in oceanic oxygen level in Earth's history. Their data, combined with computer modeling simulations, suggested that there was no evidence of anoxia – or lack of oxygen – strengthening during the extinction event in the shallow ocean animal habitat where most organisms lived, meaning that climate cooling that occurred during the Late Ordovician period combined with additional factors likely was responsible for LOME. On the other hand, there is evidence that anoxia in deep oceans expanded during that same time, a mystery that cannot be explained by the classic model of ocean oxygen, climate modeling expert Alexandre Pohl says. “Upper-ocean oxygenation in response to cooling was anticipated, because atmospheric oxygen preferentially dissolves in cold waters,” Pohl says. “However, we were surprised to see expanded anoxia in the lower ocean since anoxia in Earth’s history is generally associated with volcanism-induced global warming.” They attribute the deep-sea anoxia to the circulation of seawater through global oceans. Pohl says that a key point to keep in mind is that ocean circulation is a very important component of the climatic system. He was part of a team led by senior modeler Andy Ridgwell, professor at UC Riverside, whose computer modeling results show that climate cooling likely altered ocean circulation pattern, halting the flow of oxygen-rich water in shallow seas to the deeper ocean. According to Lu, recognizing that climate cooling can also lead to lower oxygen levels in some parts of the ocean is a key takeaway from their study. “For decades, the prevailing school of thoughts in our field is that global warming causes the oceans to lose oxygen and thus impact marine habitability, potentially destabilizing the entire ecosystem,” Lu says. “In recent years, mounting evidence point to several episodes in Earth’s history when oxygen levels also dropped in cooling climates.” While the causes of Late Ordovician extinction have not been fully agreed upon, nor will they for some time, the team’s study rules out changes in oxygenation as a single explanation for this extinction and adds new data favoring temperature change being the killing mechanism for LOME. Pohl is hopeful that as better climate data and more sophisticated numerical models become available, they will be able to offer a more robust representation of the factors that may have led to the Late Ordovician mass extinction.  The above story is based on <a href="https://thecollege.syr.edu/news-all/news-from-2021/uncovering-the-secrets-behind-earths-first-major-mass-extinction/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Materials</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> provided by <a href="https://www.syracuse.edu/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Syracuse University</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">. Original written by Dan Bernardi.

Uncovering the Surprising Secrets Behind Earth’s First Major Mass Extinction

Fossiliferous limestone slab from the Liberty Formation (Upper Ordovician) of Caesar Creek State Park near Waynesville, Ohio. Photo: Willy ...

Diamond Hauled From Deep Inside Earth Holds Never-Before-Seen Mineral

Diamonds, Geochemistry 7:32 PM

Diamond Hauled From Deep Inside Earth Holds Never-Before-Seen Mineral

The Tiny Gray Blobs of Mineral Embedded in This Slice of Clear Diamond Are the First Samples of Newly Named Davemaoite, a Calcium Silicate P...

Baby Bird Fossil Is 'Rarest of the Rare'

evolution, Fossils 9:26 PM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gMXwT1y6oys/YYwN0kFUtYI/AAAAAAAATZI/9mEhFAzh_VAPTthwITzdiY-mKuH_at_-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s976/Baby%2BBird%2BFossil%2BIs%2B%2527Rarest%2Bof%2Bthe%2BRare%2527%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="976" data-original-width="976" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gMXwT1y6oys/YYwN0kFUtYI/AAAAAAAATZI/9mEhFAzh_VAPTthwITzdiY-mKuH_at_-ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/Baby%2BBird%2BFossil%2BIs%2B%2527Rarest%2Bof%2Bthe%2BRare%2527%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="The fossil seen under synchrotron radiation" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fossil seen under synchrotron radiation. Photo: Fabien Knoll </td></tr></tbody></table> The chick lived 127 million years ago and belonged to a group of primitive birds that shared the planet with the dinosaurs. Fossils of birds from this time period are rare, with baby fossils seen as "the rarest of the rare". The tiny fossil of a prehistoric baby bird is helping scientists understand how early avians came into the world in the Age of Dinosaurs. The fossil, which dates back to the Mesozoic Era (250-65 million years ago), is a chick from a group of prehistoric birds called, Enantiornithes. Made up of a nearly complete skeleton, the specimen is amongst the smallest known Mesozoic avian fossils ever discovered. It measures less than five centimetres -- smaller than the little finger on an average human hand -- and would have weighed just three ounces when it was alive. What makes this fossil so important and unique is the fact it died not long after its birth. This is a critical stage in a bird's skeletal formation. That means this bird's extremely short life has given researchers a rare chance to analyse the species' bone structure and development. Studying and analysing ossification -- the process of bone development -- can explain a lot about a young bird's life the researchers say. It can help them understand everything from whether it could fly or if it needed to stay with its parents after hatching or could survive on its own. The lead author of the study, Fabien Knoll, from The University of Manchester's Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life (ICAL), School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and the ARAID -- Dinopolis in Spain explains: 'The evolutionary diversification of birds has resulted in a wide range of hatchling developmental strategies and important differences in their growth rates. By analysing bone development we can look at a whole host of evolutionary traits.' With the fossil being so small the team used synchrotron radiation to picture the tiny specimen at a 'submicron' level, observing the bones' microstructures in extreme detail. Knoll said: 'New technologies are offering palaeontologists unprecedented capacities to investigate provocative fossils. Here we made the most of state-of-the-art facilities worldwide including three different synchrotrons in France, the UK and the United States.' The researchers found the baby bird's sternum (breastplate bone) was still largely made of cartilage and had not yet developed into hard, solid bone when it died, meaning it wouldn't have been able to fly. The patterns of ossification observed in this and the other few very young enantiornithine birds known to date also suggest that the developmental strategies of this particular group of ancient avians may have been more diverse than previously thought. However, the team say that its lack of bone development doesn't necessarily mean the hatchling was over reliant on its parents for care and feeding, a trait known as being 'altricial'. Modern day species like love birds are highly dependent on their parents when born. Others, like chickens, are highly independent, which is known as 'precocial'. Although, this is not a black-and-white issue, but rather a spectrum, hence the difficulty in clarifying the developmental strategies of long gone bird species. Luis Chiappe, from the LA Museum of Natural History and study's co-author added: 'This new discovery, together with others from around the world, allows us to peek into the world of ancient birds that lived during the age of dinosaurs. It is amazing to realise how many of the features we see among living birds had already been developed more than 100 million years ago.'   The above story is based on <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/127-million-year-old-baby-bird-fossil-sheds-light-on-avian-evolution/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Materials</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> provided by <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">University of Manchester</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">.

Baby Bird Fossil Is 'Rarest of the Rare'

The fossil seen under synchrotron radiation. Photo: Fabien Knoll The chick lived 127 million years ago and belonged to a group of primitive ...

Jurassic Graveyard Reveals Oldest Evidence That Dinosaurs Traveled in Herds

dinosaur, Earth History, extinction 6:42 PM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7-5GxmIwA_A/YXwVjPYh8OI/AAAAAAAATYk/PASk5dW6XTY34WtJqfYLKdI5rdG9iD25gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/Jurassic%2BGraveyard%2BReveals%2BOldest%2BEvidence%2BThat%2BDinosaurs%2BTraveled%2Bin%2BHerds%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1240" height="350" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7-5GxmIwA_A/YXwVjPYh8OI/AAAAAAAATYk/PASk5dW6XTY34WtJqfYLKdI5rdG9iD25gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h350/Jurassic%2BGraveyard%2BReveals%2BOldest%2BEvidence%2BThat%2BDinosaurs%2BTraveled%2Bin%2BHerds%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="A nest of 192 million-year-old fossilized eggs found in Argentina. (Diego Po)" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A nest of 192 million-year-old fossilized eggs found in Argentina. (Diego Po) </td></tr></tbody></table>The discovery included more than 100 dinosaur eggs and the partial skeletons of 80 juvenile and adult dinosaurs. To borrow a line from the movie "Jurassic Park:" Dinosaurs do move in herds. And a new study shows that the prehistoric creatures lived in herds much earlier than previously thought. In a paper appearing in Scientific Reports, researchers from MIT, Argentina, and South Africa detail their discovery of an exceptionally preserved group of early dinosaurs that shows signs of complex herd behavior as early as 193 million years ago -- 40 million years earlier than other records of dinosaur herding. Since 2013, members of the team have excavated more than 100 dinosaur eggs (about the size of chicken eggs) and the partial skeletons of 80 juvenile and adult dinosaurs from a rich fossil bed in southern Patagonia. Using X-ray imaging, they were able to examine the eggs' contents without breaking them apart, and discovered preserved embryos within, which they used to confirm that the fossils were all members of Mussaurus patagonicus -- a plant-eating dinosaur that lived in the early Jurassic period and is classified as a sauropodomorph, a predecessor of the massive, long-necked sauropods that later roamed the Earth. Surprisingly, the researchers observed that the fossils were grouped by age: Dinosaur eggs and hatchlings were found in one area, while skeletons of juveniles were grouped in a nearby location. Meanwhile, remains of adult dinosaurs were found alone or in pairs throughout the field site. <div style="width:100%;margin: 0px auto">
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</div> This "age segregation," the researchers believe, is a strong sign of a complex, herd-like social structure. The dinosaurs likely worked as a community, laying their eggs in a common nesting ground. Juveniles congregated in "schools," while adults roamed and foraged for the herd. "This may mean that the young were not following their parents in a small family structure," says team member Jahandar Ramezani, a research scientist in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. "There's a larger community structure, where adults shared and took part in raising the whole community." Ramezani dated ancient sediments among the fossils and determined that the dinosaur herd dates back to around 193 million years ago, during the early Jurassic period. The team's results represent the earliest evidence of social herding among dinosaurs. Living in herds may have given Mussaurus and other social sauropodomorphs an evolutionary advantage. These early dinosaurs originated in the late Triassic, shortly before an extinction event wiped out many other animals. For whatever reason, sauropodomorphs held on and eventually dominated the terrestrial ecosystem in the early Jurassic. "We've now observed and documented this earliest social behavior in dinosaurs," Ramezani says. "This raises the question now of whether living in a herd may have had a major role in dinosaurs' early evolutionary success. This gives us some clues to how dinosaurs evolved." <h4 style="text-align: left;">A fossil flood</h4>Since 2013, paleontologists on the team have worked in the Laguna Colorada Formation, a site in southern Patagonia that is known for bearing fossils of early sauropodomorphs. When scientists first discovered fossils within this formation in the 1970s, they named them Mussaurus for "mouse lizard," as they assumed the skeletons were of miniature dinosaurs. Only much later did scientists, including members of the Argentinian team, discover bigger skeletons, indicating Mussaurus adults were much larger than their rodent namesakes. The name stuck, however, and the team has continued to unearth a rich collection of Mussaurus fossils from a small, square kilometer of the formation. The fossils they have identified so far were found in three sedimentary layers spaced close together, indicating that the region may have been a common breeding ground where the dinosaurs returned regularly, perhaps to take advantage of favorable seasonal conditions. Among the fossils they uncovered, the team discovered a group of 11 articulated juvenile skeletons, intertwined and overlapping each other, as if they had been suddenly thrown together. In fact, judging from the remarkably preserved nature of the entire collection, the team believes this particular herd of Mussaurus died "synchronously," perhaps quickly buried by sediments. Based on evidence of ancient flora in the nearby outcrops, the Laguna Colorada Formation has long been assumed to be relatively old on the dinosaur timescale. The team wondered: Could these dinosaurs have been herding from early on? "People already knew that in the late Jurassic and Cretaceous, the large herbivore dinosaurs exhibited social behavior -- they lived in herds and had nesting spots," Ramezani says. "But the question has always been, when was the earliest time for such herding behavior?" <h4 style="text-align: left;">A gregarious line</h4>To find out, Diego Pol, a paleontologist at the Egidio Feruglio Paleontological Museum in Argentina who led the study, looked for samples of volcanic ash among the fossils to send to Ramezani's lab at MIT. Volcanic ash can contain zircon -- mineral grains contaning uranium and lead, the isotopic ratios of which Ramezani can precisely measure. Based on uranium's half-life, or the time it takes for half of the element to decay into lead, he can calculate the age of the zircon and the ash in which it was found. Ramezani successfully identified zircons in two ash samples, all of which he dated to around 193 million years old. Since the volcanic ash was found in the same sediment layers as the fossils, Ramezani's analyses strongly suggest that the dinosaurs were buried at the same time the ash was deposited. A likely scenario may have involved a flash flood or windblown dust that buried the herd, while ash from a distant eruption happened to drift over and, luckily for science, deposit zircons in the sediments. Taken together, the team's results show that Mussaurus and possibly other dinosaurs evolved to live in complex social herds as early as 193 million years ago, around the dawn of the Jurassic period. Scientists suspect that two other types of early dinosaurs -- Massospondylus from South Africa and Lufengosaurus from China -- also lived in herds around the same time, although the dating for these dinosaurs has been less precise. If multiple separate lines of dinosaurs lived in herds, the researchers believe the social behavior may have evolved earlier, perhaps as far back as their common ancestor, in the late Triassic. "Now we know herding was going on 193 million years ago," Ramezani says. "This is the earliest confirmed evidence of gregarious behavior in dinosaurs. But paleontological understanding says, if you find social behavior in this type of dinosaur at this time, it must have originated earlier." This research was supported, in part, by National Science Foundation in the U.S. and the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina.  The above story is based on <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2021/dinosaurs-may-have-lived-social-herds-early-1021" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #004276; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Materials</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> provided by <a href="https://www.mit.edu/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #004276; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">. Original written by Jennifer Chu.

Jurassic Graveyard Reveals Oldest Evidence That Dinosaurs Traveled in Herds

A nest of 192 million-year-old fossilized eggs found in Argentina. (Diego Po) The discovery included more than 100 dinosaur eggs and the p...

Giant Ammonites Once Thrived on Both Sides of Atlantic

evolution, extinction, Fossils 7:31 PM

Giant Ammonites Once Thrived on Both Sides of Atlantic

This was a replica that we used to show how big ammonites could grow. Made of polystyrene it squeaked as we rolled it down the beach at Lyme...

Tiny Crab Preserved in 100-million-year-old Amber Lived Among Dinosaurs

amber, Fossils 7:32 PM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LXfZnXKYrl8/YXQ4g2yOZHI/AAAAAAAATYA/XGBmjO2R3uwosrN2Fxeqd2ua0dUp7fZDACLcBGAsYHQ/s1047/Cretapsara-athanata-Crab-in-Burmese-Amber%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="735" data-original-width="1047" height="450" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LXfZnXKYrl8/YXQ4g2yOZHI/AAAAAAAATYA/XGBmjO2R3uwosrN2Fxeqd2ua0dUp7fZDACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h450/Cretapsara-athanata-Crab-in-Burmese-Amber%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="Cretapsara athanata, a modern-looking eubrachyuran crab in Burmese amber. Image credit: Luque et al.," width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cretapsara athanata, a modern-looking eubrachyuran crab in Burmese amber. Image credit: Luque </td></tr></tbody></table>Scientists have found the oldest aquatic animal preserved in amber -- and it's the most complete crab fossil ever discovered. Fossils trapped in amber provide a unique snapshot of the anatomy, biology, and ecology of extinct organisms. The most common fossils found in amber, which is formed from resin exuded from tree bark, are land-dwelling animals, mainly insects. But on very rare occasions scientists discover amber housing an aquatic organism. In a study published in Science Advances an international team of researchers describe the first crab from the Cretaceous dinosaur era preserved in amber. The study used micro CT to examine and describe Cretapsara athanata, the oldest modern-looking crab (approximately 100 million years old) and the most complete fossil crab ever discovered. It is rivalled in completeness by the mysterious Callichimaera perplexa, a very distant relative nicknamed the platypus of the crab world. Callichimaera's stunning preservation included soft tissues and delicate parts that rarely fossilize. Both Cretapsara and Callichimaera are new branches in the crab tree of life that lived during the Cretaceous Crab Revolution, a period when crabs diversified worldwide and the first modern groups originated while many others disappeared. True crabs, or Brachyura, are an iconic group of crustaceans whose remarkable diversity of forms, species richness, and economic importance have inspired celebrations and festivals worldwide. They've even earned a special role in the pantheon of social media. True crabs are found all around the world, from the depths of the oceans, to coral reefs, beaches, rivers, caves, and even in trees as true crabs are among the few animal groups that have conquered land and freshwater multiple times. <div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;">
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</div> The crab fossil record extends back into the early Jurassic, more than 200 million years ago. Unfortunately, fossils of nonmarine crabs are sparse and largely restricted to bits and pieces of the animals carapace -- claws and legs found in sedimentary rocks. That is until now with the discovery of Cretapsara athanata. "The specimen is spectacular, it is one of a kind. It's absolutely complete and is not missing a single hair on the body, which is remarkable," said lead author Javier Luque, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University. A group of scientists led by co-lead author Lida Xing, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, made micro CT scans of the fossil, which is housed in the Longyin Amber Museum in Yunnan, China. The scans created a full three-dimensional reconstruction of the exquisite preservation of the animal allowing Luque, Xing, and their team to see the complete body of the animal including delicate tissues, like the antennae and mouthparts lined with fine hairs. Shockingly they discovered the animal also had gills. "The more we studied the fossil, the more we realized that this animal was very special in many ways," said Luque. Cretapsara is remarkably modern-looking -- superficially resembling some shore crabs found today -- unlike most crabs during the mid-Cretaceous era which looked quite different from modern crabs. Yet, the animal was entombed in Cretaceous amber and the presence of well-developed gills indicated an aquatic to semi-aquatic animal. Aquatic animals are rarely preserved in tree resins that become amber. Crabs previously found in amber are by the handful and belong to a living group of tropical land and tree-dwelling crabs known as Sesarmidae from the Miocene (15 million years ago). How then, the researchers asked, did a 100 million year old aquatic animal become preserved in tree amber, which normally houses land-dwelling specimens? Gills allow aquatic animals to breathe in water. But crabs have successfully and independently conquered land, brackish water, and fresh water at least twelve times since the dinosaur era. In doing so their gills evolved to include lung-like tissue allowing them to breathe both in and out of the water. Cretapsara however, had no lung tissue, only well-developed gills indicating the animal was not completely land dwelling. "Now we were dealing with an animal that is likely not marine, but also not fully terrestrial," Luque said. "In the fossil record, nonmarine crabs evolved 50 million years ago, but this animal is twice that age." The team's phylogenetic studies show that carcinization (the evolution of true crab-looking forms) had actually already occurred in the most recent common ancestor shared by all modern crabs more than 100 million years ago. Cretapsara bridges the gap in the fossil record and confirms that crabs actually invaded land and fresh water during the dinosaur era, not during the mammal era, pushing the evolution of nonmarine crabs much further back in time. The researchers hypothesize that Cretapsara, measuring at five millimeters in leg span, was a juvenile crab of a freshwater to amphibious species. Or, that the animal is perhaps a semi-terrestrial juvenile crab migrating onto land from water as occurs to the iconic Christmas Island red crabs where land dwelling mother crabs release their babies into the ocean, which later swarm out of the water back onto land. They further hypothesize that like the crabs found in amber from the Miocene, Cretapsara could have been a tree climber. "These Miocene crabs are truly modern looking crabs and, as their extant relatives, they live in trees in little ponds of water," said Luque, "these arboreal crabs can get trapped in tree resin today, but would it explain why Cretapsara is preserved in amber?" Luque's research is centered on understanding why things evolve into crabs, and their evolution and diversification over time leading to the modern forms seen today. "This study is pushing the timing of origin of many of these groups back in time. Every fossil we discover challenges our preconceptions about the time and place of origin of several organisms, often making us look further back in time," Luque said. The study is part of a National Science Foundation funded project with Luque, Professor Javier Ortega-Hernández and postdoctoral researcher Joanna Wolfe, both in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, and Professor Heather Bracken-Grissom, Florida International University. The researchers chose the name Cretapsara athanata, which means the immortal Cretaceous spirit of the clouds and waters, to honor the Cretaceous, during which this crab lived, and Apsara, a spirit of the clouds and waters in South and Southeast Asian mythology. The species name is based on "athanatos," immortal, referring to its lifelike preservation as if 'frozen in time' in the time capsule that is amber. Author's Statement: The studied fossil, deposited in the Longyin Amber Museum (LYAM), Yunnan Province, China, comes from a batch of commercial "raw" (dull, unpolished) amber pieces collected by local miners and sold to a vendor at an amber jewelry market in Myitkyina on May 12, 2015. The polished piece containing the fossil studied was acquired by LYAM from the vendor's mineral store in Tengchong, China, on 10 August 2015. We acknowledge the existence of a sociopolitical conflict in northern Myanmar and have limited our research to material predating the 2017 resumption of hostilities in the region. We hope that conducting research on specimens collected before the conflict and acknowledging the situation in the Kachin State will serve to raise awareness of the current conflict in Myanmar and the human cost behind it. The above story is based on <a href="https://oeb.harvard.edu/news/international-team-researchers-discover-first-dinosaur-era-crab-fully-preserved-amber" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #004276; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Materials</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> provided by <a href="https://oeb.harvard.edu/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #004276; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Harvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">.

Tiny Crab Preserved in 100-million-year-old Amber Lived Among Dinosaurs

Cretapsara athanata, a modern-looking eubrachyuran crab in Burmese amber. Image credit: Luque Scientists have found the oldest aquatic anima...

Evidence of Ancient Life Was Discovered Inside a Ruby

Earth History, Geochemistry, Tectonic 7:05 PM

Evidence of Ancient Life Was Discovered Inside a Ruby

The ruby found to contain carbon-12 graphite. (University of Waterloo) A ruby that formed in Earth's crust 2.5 billion years ago encas...

Geology In