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The Museum of Children of Indianapolis
Exploratory work has already identified bones from very large dinosaurs
British scientists are about to undertake one of their biggest dinosaur hunts for decades.
They are joining US and Dutch institutions to explore what should be a fossil treasure in the Wyoming "Badlands".
The US State has delivered some of the most famous specimens ever found, and the international group will dig a one-square-mile (260 ha) plot.
"It's an amazing, breathtaking site," said Professor Phil Manning.
"In the UK, we rarely see anything like this: whole dinosaurs come out of the ground, but that's what we have here," said the Manchester University paleontologist at BBC News.
"And the funding we have allows us to open football-sized areas at once, if need be."
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The project partners are the Children & # 39; s Museum of Indianapolis; the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands; and the Natural History Museum of London.
Professor Manning and her colleague from Manchester, Dr. Victoria Egerton, are extraordinary scientists in residence at the Children & # 39; s Museum and will act as principal investigators, but the scale of this endeavor is such a team of more than 100 experts will be needed.
The project was named "Jurassic Mission" – a reference to the major geological period during which the rocks to be surveyed were laid.
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The Museum of Children of Indianapolis
The Children's Museum rented a square mile of Wyoming Ranch for the project
In this part of northern Wyoming, scientists will have access to a unit, or formation, known as Morrison.
"These were filed about 157 million to 145 million years ago," said Dr. Susannah Maidment of the NHM.
"The training has been the subject of many studies in the south, producing all your favorite dinosaurs that you could name at seven – like Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus and Allosaurus – but we will be in the north, which has studied much less, and which it is suggested could contain slightly different creatures.
"So we hope to find animals never seen before."
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The site will likely occupy scientists for the next 20 years
Already, there have been exploratory investigations in the region.
This initial work, led by Professor Manning and his colleagues, only increased anticipation.
Several tons of bone were recovered, including fossils of two giant sauropod dinosaurs – a Brachiosaurus 24 m long and a Diplodocus of 30 m long.
"We also have theropods the size of a chicken," said Professor Manning, one of the familiar bipedal dinosaurs from which modern birds have come down. "I hope that if we can find more of this material, we could learn something about the evolution of the flight."
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The Museum of Children of Indianapolis
The institution of Indianapolis is the world's largest museum for children
The excavation team will work in a variety of ancient environments, including a river and a floodplain; and another who seems to record a marine history.
"So, it's not just about dinosaurs," NHM professor Paul Barrett said. "Of course, they are charismatic creatures, but we are also interested in everything that lives alongside the dinosaurs, in order to build a complete picture of this ecosystem, things like ancient crocodiles, lizards, turtles, fish, clams, plants – We will bring specialists with us so that we can deepen this picture. "
The teacher. Barrett stated that Mission Jurassic was the largest such expedition to NHM since an operation in Niger in the 1980s.
The institution – as the first fossil exhibition center in the UK – hopes to bring back many of the specimens found in London. Although the NHM has an extraordinary collection of fossils, he admits that his North American compilation might be stronger.
An excellent opportunity that the project will offer is educational – both for British PhD students, who will be able to work in the field; but also for the public. It is planned to organize live events around the excavations so that people can have a real insight into the life of fossils totally new to science.
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The Museum of Children of Indianapolis
The areas studied till now have impressive traces of dinosaurs
Anyone wishing to follow the project should keep an eye on the Dinosaur Hub on the Natural History Museum website. Progress will also be posted on social media with the hashtag #MissionJurassic.
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
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