Linda Diaz '24
Being in the right place at the right time came into play with these Paleontologists. While in the Navajo Sandstone Park in Lake Powell, Paleontologists were able to discover rare fossils of the tritylodontids. Not only does this discovery have an impact on the increased knowledge of tritylodontids, but it also gives geological history on the changed shorelines of Lake Powell. Lake Powell is a reservoir that connects to the Colorado River, and across Southern Utah and Arizona. The paleontologists were not searching for any mammal fossils or bone beds, but instead documenting tracksuits. They were following a trail of footprint and trace fossils, not expecting tritylodontids.
It was in March 2023, when the paleontologists discovered the bonebed of these rare fossils and impressions of Tritylodontids mammaliaforms. The bonebed of Tritylodontids contained actual bone fragments. These animals could be dated back 180 million years ago. These animals were the early mammal herbivores that were associated with the Early Jurassic period. The Early Jurassic started after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. The group of people collecting the fossils and bonebed were going to get it x-rayed and scanned into a computer. At the University of Utah South Jordan Health Center, the fossil would have been computerized tomography, showing the different layers within the bone bed. More research and analysis would be supported by The Petrified Forest National Park and the Smithsonian Institution at St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm. Finally, it would be at the Glen Canyon NRA Museum collection on display at the Prehistoric Museum in Price, Utah.
The crew of paleontologists had 120 days to uncover the fossils. They were allowed only that amount of time in the Navajo Sandstone Park. It was stated by a park service that the location of the bonebed “had been submerged by Lake Powell's fluctuating water levels and was only found because the paleontologists were in the right place at the right time before annual snowmelt filled the lake”. It was also revealed that recently before the tritylodontids discovery in Lake Powell, in the Kayenta Formation, another bonebed was found. These new discoveries will lead to more information on the mystery of how the early mammals in the Early Jurassic period survived the mass extinction of animals from the Triassic Period to the Jurassic Period.
To learn more, here are the links:
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