Scientists unearth remains of one of Europe’s biggest predatory dinosaurs – CNN
Researchers have discovered bones of a dinosaur in the Vectis Formation, which is made up of several rock layers, in Compton Chine, on the southwestern coast of the Isle of Wight. The dinosaur was larger than a double-decker bus.
Researchers found “Spinosaurid” remains on a beach on the Isle of Wight tracing back 125 million years ago and identified a new dinosaur species from the Lower Cretaceous period.
It is named for the layer of rock the remains were found in.
Dinosaurs evolved partway through the Triassic period of the Mesozoic era, around 230 Ma (million years ago). At that time, the earth had one supercontinental landmass, called Pangaea, of which Europe was a part. So it remained throughout the Triassic. By the start of the Jurassic period, some 30 million years later, the supercontinent began to split into Laurasia and Gondwana. The largest inlet from Panthalassa, the superocean that surrounded Pangaea, was called the Tethys Ocean, and as this inlet cut deeper into the supercontinent, much of Europe was flooded.
By the Cretaceous, from 145 to 66 million years ago, the continents began approaching their present shapes, but not their present positions, and Europe remained tropical. At times, it was a chain of island microcontinents including Baltica and Iberia.
Europe is relatively rich in fossils from the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary, and much of what is known about European dinosaurs dates from this time.
For more on this story, please consider these sources:
- Scientists unearth remains of one of Europe’s biggest predatory dinosaurs CNN
- Europe’s ‘largest ever’ land dinosaur found on Isle of Wight BBC
- Europe’s largest meat-eating dinosaur found on Isle of Wight Reuters
- Bones found on Isle of Wight may be from Europe’s biggest predator dinosaur The Guardian
- Europe’s ‘Largest Predatory Dinosaur’ Found by UK Fossil Hunter Newsmax
- View Full Coverage on Google News
