Massive dinosaur fossil unearthed by Alberta pipeline crew

Human graves are generally 6 feet deep, yet a dinosaur fossil was found in shallower soil about 5 feet down or at a depth of 1.5 meters.

Imagine then how the backhoe operator for a pipeline crew felt when he thought he broke off a rock only to then realize it was something else. Imagine his chagrin when it crumpled in his hands afterwards.

This is what he unearthed.

Thinking he had simply chipped off a section of rock, the backhoe operator laid the piece to the side and turned to resume excavation work.

That’s when he saw the exposed fossil in the embankment in front of him.

Palaeontologists from the Tyrell Museum and National Geographic arrived at the site Wednesday and will soon be joined by Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative head palaeontologist, Dr. Matthew Vavrek.

How exciting! And yet another giant fossil found (tail section only?) in the same general area of Canada, almost lying on the surface really. It makes me wonder why they were all found out west.

source
CNN

The explorer in me would love to go on an expedition to unearth fossils of this size.

reply to post by aboutface


Cool find. The perspective in the picture seems a bit weird through. The fossil looks a bit like tire tracks.
But the article doesn't seem to say which type of creature the fossil is from - has anybody got an idea?

Looks like a spine. I'm guessing 30 meters should narrow down the search, but my knowledge of prehistoric creatures is very limited, so I don't really know how many of them grew to those sizes.

Oh for crying out Louuud...ITS A ROCK ALLREADY....


Hmmm...Wait

Sorry tis is not the mars anomoly thread....


Nice find...


(If its real)

reply to post by Mads1987


I can spell paleontology but I know nothing more about this science. It could be a spine I guess. I hope someone who knows can shed more light on this.

A link within the source article in the OP says it's a hadrosaur:
www.edmontonjournal.com...
The way it's preserved looks pretty amazing.

reply to post by Makuahine


Much appreciated. Then it would look like this

The hadrosaurs are known as the duck-billed dinosaurs due to the similarity of their head to that of modern ducks. In some genera, most notably Anatotitan, the whole front of the skull was flat and broadened out to form a beak, which was ideal for clipping leaves and twigs from the forests of Asia, Europe and North America. However, the back of the mouth contained thousands of teeth suitable for grinding food before it was swallowed. This has been hypothesized to have been a crucial factor in the success of this group in the Cretaceous compared to the sauropods, which were still largely dependent on gastroliths for grinding their food.

Wiki - read more about it here

reply to post by aboutface


based on the depth of the level of this fossil, i carbon date that this creature lived and died only 10 years ago.

reply to post by filledcup


Haha. Impressive math.

I had a dog who could and did clean off a coffee table in two wags of his tail. Imagine what kind of damage this one could do?

Stay merry.

Yeah. I think its one of these:



You can tell by the tail section.

Nice story. I have often thought about how backhoe operators get to have the fun of breaking all that ground. A mystery in every scoop.

reply to post by aboutface

...It makes me wonder why they were all found out west.

If they were running from the flooding then I'm really in trouble.

S&F

reply to post by soficrow

Ha! You and me both!

I checked out the elevation of my town in Google Earth, and 432 feet does not give me great comfort especially as I am about 300 feet from a river whose elevation is 424 feet.

I head about this. So exciting!!! I love hearing about new dinosaur discoveries, especially really big ones that are in my home province!!
My dad use to take my lil sister and I down into the badlands, near Drumheller, down into Horse-theif canyon, to poke around, and pick at rocks.
Now I go, and bring a group of friends that are adventurous, and we scramble along the ridges, and the things you find out there are amazing. Not only chunks of petrified wood, bone, shells, there's also so many gems and crystals. I'v literally pulled out a chunk of quartz the length of my index, straight from the earth!
My dad found a tooth, it was a carnivore, small, maybe only 50cm, curved and jagged. Really cool. To this day it is my goal to find something like that. lol. A skull would be awesome, or even just a tooth or a claw!

Alberta has so many more discoveries just waiting to be unearthed.

reply to post by SalientSkivvy

How really terrific for you! No kidding, I mean it. For your dad to take you there and then for mother nature to have offered you a little gift from among her hidden secret treasures is really special. It would really thrill me too. Bet you have some great memories and souvenirs.

reply to post by aboutface


Thanks!
I love fossils and rocks so much I got one tattooed on my right foot *an ammonite* and sedimentary layers around my ankle.

im so confused as to the size, theres a lack of photos online so far, but this says its a 100ft tail belonging to a possible 35 ft body..? to me it kinda looks like a big crocodile type skull...
vnnforum.com...
i believe there are ENORMOUS undiscovered fossils, exposed above ground and assumed to be natural rock formations. this story is exciting to my "dig it up and see what it is!" inner child.

reply to post by gemdog


The MSM goofed in their measurements. The scientists subsequently said that they feel the rest of the body is buried inside a hill. The tail part they feel was sticking out of that hill and is about 30 feet. The overall size of the animal is estimated to be about 100 feet I believe.