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For some, it is the discovery of the century, but for others, it does not mix well. At least not yet.
An extraordinary site discovered in North Dakota, United States, would house a treasure of fossils showing the impact of a meteor 66 million years ago and which generated a wave similar to a tsunami in an inland sea that killed and buried fish, mammals, insects and a dinosaur.
This devastating event created a fossilized cemetery that preserved ancient animals and debris from the space rock, giving insights into what was happening minutes and hours later, arguably the largest mass extinction event. of the history of the Earth.
At least that's the theory.
A paleontologist by the name of Robert DePalma, PhD student at the University of Kansas, has been working on the site with his team since 2013. Although simplified, the above theory is the way he understood the site that upset his life.
He thinks that after finding a varied bed of fossils and tektites (gravel-sized bodies formed from terrestrial debris ejected during the impact of meteorites), he discovered a site that represents the very important boundary of KT (or K-Pg) – the terrestrial layer that separates the Cretaceous and Paleogene.
"This is the first large mass assemblage of organisms found to be associated with the K-T limit," said DePalma. Berkeley News.
"In no other section of the KT border on Earth, you will find such a collection including a large number of species representing different ages of organisms and different stages of life, all of which are dead at the same time, the same day."
According to him, this includes a number of dinosaur remains. In other words, the almost irrefutable evidence of the disappearance of the dinosaurs because of the ecological fallout of an asteroidal impact.
What promises to be one of the greatest stories of palaeontology of the century has been prompted by a large number of New Yorker article entitled "The day the dinosaurs are dead" contains an incredible number of claims. But he preceded a research paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that did not live up to the hype launched by the magazine.
Excavations like this are often funded by museums, universities and even governments, but because of the huge sums of money that may be involved when there are rare fossil collections, there are also a private industry around the search.
In this case, Mr. DePalma entered into an undisclosed trade agreement with a farmer owning the land surrounding the site and kept his discovery very close to his chest for the past five years.
the New Yorker The article, which describes as much the profile of 37-year-old Mr. DePalma as that of the excavation site, portrays a site that is "the holy grail" and more of the world's paleontology. But few people have actually seen the blessed chalice, so to speak.
Dr. Jay Melosh, a geophysicist and impact expert from Purdue University, who was not part of the research, but drafted the PNAS document, calls it "the discovery of the century" for the field.
But many have wondered why such incredible claims have been made in the media, but not in academia.
Stephen Brusatte, paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh and author of The rise and fall of the dinosaurs, is one of those who wonder about the extraordinary assertions of the team which, so far, has quietly chaired the site
"It's a great site, but I do not see any evidence of a dinosaur graveyard! Something is weird, "he wrote on Twitter.
In an email to news.com.au, he said he was "very excited about this discovery" but noted that, apart from a partial dinosaur hip bone mentioned in the newspaper, the ideas of a cemetery Dinosaurs evoked in the media do not show real evidence so far.
"The New Yorker The article describes a dinosaur graveyard with bones of many types of dinosaurs, as well as feathers, eggs and even embryos, "he said. "I'm afraid there is simply no evidence, apart from a partial bone, for me or other dinosaur palaeontologists to evaluate for the moment."
Dr. Brusatte, 35, is widely recognized as one of the leading paleontologists of his generation. During his ten years of research in the field, he has written more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers. He also named and described more than 10 new dinosaur species.
He found it odd that many of DePalma's statements in the media were not mentioned in the PNAS article.
the New Yorker Reports on the long feathers found on the site and of which DePalma is "convinced are dinosaur feathers", the bony remains of a mammal distantly related to primates and signs of what he believed to be an ancient mammal burrowing.
"A lot of things in the New Yorker article is completely absent from the newspaper, "added Dr. Brusatte. "Geology is very credible, but there is not enough evidence yet to assess the dinosaur aspect of history."
Brian Switek is a scientific writer specializing in paleontology and author of My beloved brontosaurus: On the road with old bones, a new science and our favorite dinosaurs.
He also finds it odd that such a high degree of confidentiality has been maintained around the site, while only certain details have been included in the peer-reviewed journal.
"I think it's strange that so much preliminary work has been done, and they're certain that the discoveries in the New Yorker article are part of the same bed of bone, that these fossils have not been mentioned even in passing, "he told news.com.au.
It is a typical practice for paleontologists to compile "wildlife lists" of species found on a dig site, he explained, and he was surprised not to find one. in the document.
DePalma and his team raised concerns about poaching for not opening the site to many other researchers, which would happen in the field. But Mr Switek said that such an argument "does not make sense" in professional paleontology.
"Information and details about the locality should be shared with other professionals who wish to investigate, assist or search the site in a manner consistent with the basic ethics of science," he said. declared.
The hype around the site, produced largely by the New Yorker article, let "many people scratch their heads, especially because of the discrepancy between the statements in the story and the evidence in the newspaper," he added.
Mr. DePalma could not be contacted for comment, but reportedly reported that other research papers related to the site are in progress.
At least one thing is certain, as Dr. DePalma's Ph.D. advisor told Kansas University, the site will occupy specialists for at least half a century.
And as Dr. Brusatte told news.com.au: "It would be great if everything was true."
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