The Polar Dinosaurs Revealing Ancient Secrets
Dec 1, 2022 8:48:48 GMT -5
RWA3006, RickB, and 7 more like this
Post by hummingbirdstones on Dec 1, 2022 8:48:48 GMT -5
It was the middle of winter under a moody Alaskan sky. On one side stretched
the flat expanse of the Colville River. On the other, a soaring cliff face
of frozen pewter-grey rock, backing onto hundreds of miles of desolate
tundra.
Armed with an ice-axe and crampons, buffeted by frigid Arctic winds in
temperatures that hovered around -28C (-20F), Pat Druckenmiller was
searching for something special.
It was 2021 and just getting to the cliff had been an extreme expedition.
In this remote northerly corner of Alaska, there are no roads, so the
palaeontologist and colleagues from the University of Alaska travelled to
the site on snow scooters, then set up a camp nearby. It was so cold, each
tent was equipped with its own wood-burning stove. For the coming weeks,
the team would be constantly battling frostbite – "we had some close
calls," says Druckenmiller – rockfalls, and hungry polar bears. But it was
worth it.
Squinting through ski goggles in the dusky light, Druckenmiller finally found
what he was looking for www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982221007399
.
Buried within the cliff strata, around 50ft (15m) above the river, was a
single layer of clay and sand, about 10cm (4in) thick.
Around 73 million years ago, when the sediment was laid down, the world was
warmer than it is now, but the region would have been even further north.
While today this part of Alaska gets a few hours of twilight each day
during the winter, back then it was plunged into total darkness for four
months of the year, from October to February. It regularly dipped below
-10C (14F), with occasional dustings of snow.
And yet, hidden within this silty seam are the last remains of a bizarre
epoch in history – tiny bones and teeth, mere millimetres across, that
belonged to the offspring of giants. This is where thousands of dinosaurs
made their nests, and the unhatched foetuses that didn't make it are still
there to this day.
"It's probably the most interesting layer of dinosaur bones in the entire
state of Alaska," says Druckenmiller. "They were practically living at the
North Pole."
www.bbc.com/future/article/20221130-the-polar-dinosaurs-revealing-ancient-secrets
the flat expanse of the Colville River. On the other, a soaring cliff face
of frozen pewter-grey rock, backing onto hundreds of miles of desolate
tundra.
Armed with an ice-axe and crampons, buffeted by frigid Arctic winds in
temperatures that hovered around -28C (-20F), Pat Druckenmiller was
searching for something special.
It was 2021 and just getting to the cliff had been an extreme expedition.
In this remote northerly corner of Alaska, there are no roads, so the
palaeontologist and colleagues from the University of Alaska travelled to
the site on snow scooters, then set up a camp nearby. It was so cold, each
tent was equipped with its own wood-burning stove. For the coming weeks,
the team would be constantly battling frostbite – "we had some close
calls," says Druckenmiller – rockfalls, and hungry polar bears. But it was
worth it.
Squinting through ski goggles in the dusky light, Druckenmiller finally found
what he was looking for www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982221007399
.
Buried within the cliff strata, around 50ft (15m) above the river, was a
single layer of clay and sand, about 10cm (4in) thick.
Around 73 million years ago, when the sediment was laid down, the world was
warmer than it is now, but the region would have been even further north.
While today this part of Alaska gets a few hours of twilight each day
during the winter, back then it was plunged into total darkness for four
months of the year, from October to February. It regularly dipped below
-10C (14F), with occasional dustings of snow.
And yet, hidden within this silty seam are the last remains of a bizarre
epoch in history – tiny bones and teeth, mere millimetres across, that
belonged to the offspring of giants. This is where thousands of dinosaurs
made their nests, and the unhatched foetuses that didn't make it are still
there to this day.
"It's probably the most interesting layer of dinosaur bones in the entire
state of Alaska," says Druckenmiller. "They were practically living at the
North Pole."
www.bbc.com/future/article/20221130-the-polar-dinosaurs-revealing-ancient-secrets
