Drones Reveal Secrets About Fossils

Drones and GPS helped scientists figure out that their method for estimating fossil ages isn’t always accurate.

Dinosaur Provincial Park guide Hilary Tarrant shows off a fossil that was found in the park.

An area of Alberta, Canada, is so rich with fossilized dinosaur bones that it’s been named Dinosaur Provincial Park. The park has been a key location for fossil hunters for about 100 years. But in a recent study, drones and GPS technology helped to reveal that the method scientists have been using to estimate the age of the bones isn’t always accurate.

Paleontologists had been dating the park’s fossils by measuring their location relative to a boundary where two sedimentary rock layers meet. Since this type of rock forms in layers, scientists often conclude that the fossils found in lower layers are older than those found in upper layers.

To test this method, scientists at McGill University in Canada had drones fly over a section of the park and take about 1,000 high-resolution images. Using the images and GPS coordinates, scientists were able to create a 3D model of the landscape. They learned that the rock boundary they’d been using to date fossils fluctuates, or varies, in elevation by up to 39 feet (12 meters) within a short distance, suggesting that it doesn’t give very accurate information.

“We’ve essentially shown that the dating method used for decades in Dinosaur Provincial Park may not be as reliable as previously thought,” Alexandre Demers-Potvin, the study’s lead author, told McGill University.

Courtesy of Alexandre Demers-Potvin/McGill University

Scientists used data gathered by drones to create this 3D rendering of an area of Dinosaur Provincial Park where many dinosaur bones have been found.

But Demer-Potvin and his team believe drone-assisted 3D modeling has opened the door to a better dating method because 3D models can be used to identify rock layers and trace them for long distances. This should paint a more accurate picture of when the fossils in each layer were created, giving scientists a new way to compare the different fossils in the park and determine how the organisms and their ecosystem changed over time.

“[3D modeling] might be a promising way to better understand which dinosaur fossils are actually older than others in that part of Alberta,” Demers-Potvin told the CBC. “If you’re able to take a step back by looking at a larger area from the air, it’s easier to notice those small differences.”

NEWS EXTRA

Canada Day!

In this 2017 photo, bakery owner Cera Rivers (center) applies icing to cupcakes that make up the Canadian flag to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday.

On July 1, Canadians will celebrate Canada Day, a national holiday that marks the day Canada became a country.

The holiday originates in 1867, when four of the British colonies in North America joined together to form a new country called the Dominion of Canada. (The country grew as other colonies and territories eventually became part of it.) In 1879, the Canadian government designated July 1 as Dominion Day.

In 1982, when Canada became a fully independent nation, the holiday became known as Canada Day. Canadians celebrate Canada Day with parades, barbecues, and fireworks.

Did You Know?

Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in the U.S. state of Utah contains one of the largest collections of dinosaur bones in the world. Scientists aren’t sure how all of these bones ended up in one place or why the bones belonged mostly to meat-eating dinosaurs.

Jeremy T. Dyer/ U.S. Bureau of Land Management

This fossil imprint is located at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry.

What Fossils Reveal

If you want to know what Earth was like millions of years ago, the fossil record (all the fossils we’ve discovered and the story they tell) is a good place to start.

Here are some cool and surprising things fossils can tell us.

Rock Layers

Notice that the rock layers closer to the top (the newer layers) contain fewer fossils. This is evidence of a mass extinction event.

Cool Fact: Sedimentary rock forms in layers over time. Since the oldest layers are on the bottom, the fossils in the bottom layers are the oldest. There are some exceptions to this, however. (See today’s main article!)

Digging Deeper: If the fossils in one layer are different from the fossils in the next layer, it suggests the environment in the area changed over time to support different living things.

Leaf Fossils

This plant fossil, found in Antarctica, reveals that Antarctica was once warm enough for forests.

Cool Fact: Plant fossils may be found in areas where there are different plants—or no plants—today. Plant fossils have even been found in Antarctica!

Digging Deeper: This is an example of how fossils help show changes in an area over time. Antarctica’s plant fossils reveal that the continent was once able to support forests.

Marine Fossils on Mountains

These fossils of marine animals called ammonites were found in Asia’s Himalayas, some of the highest mountains in the world.

Cool Fact: Fossils of sea life have been discovered in the limestone on mountains, including Mount Everest.

Digging Deeper: What’s now Mount Everest was once part of the ocean floor. Everest’s marine fossils are evidence of plate tectonics, the slow movement of the massive plates that make up Earth’s crust. The collision of two of these plates between 40 and 50 million years ago began the formation of Mount Everest and the rest of the Himalayan mountains.

Not the Whole Story

The skull and teeth of this T. rex were preserved, but the eyes and skin were not.

Cool Fact: Scientists have found millions of fossils and identified about 250,000 species among them. They’re discovering more fossils all the time—but they’ll never find fossils of every living thing ever.

Digging Deeper: Not every living thing gets fossilized because soft organisms decompose or get eaten. Scientists are most likely to find the hard parts of living things, such as teeth, bones, and shells.

An 1800s Fossil Hunter

Tourists at a museum walk in front of the fossil discovered by Mary Anning. — Tourists walk in front of an Ichthyosaur fossil that was discovered by Mary Anning. The fossil is on display at London’s Natural History Museum.

A sketch of a plesiosaurus accompanied by some writing. — Mary Anning created this sketch of a plesiosaurus in the 1820s.

If she were living today, Mary Anning might have become a world-renowned paleontologist. But during Anning’s lifetime, women weren’t welcomed into the scientific community. Born in 1799 in England, Anning excavated the first known fossil of a type of ancient reptile called an Ichthyosaurus. This was one of many contributions Anning made to the fossil record.

You can learn more about Mary Anning at Britannica.

WORD OF THE DAY

disperse

PART OF SPEECH:

verb

Definition:

: to go or move in different directions : to spread apart

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