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Paleontologist discovers site showing first hours after dinosaur-killing asteroid hit

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This is astounding and almost beyond belief... 

Full long-form story:  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-day-the-dinosaurs-died

Summary article:  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/science/dinosaurs-extinction-asteroid.html

Fossil Site Reveals Day That Meteor Hit Earth and, Maybe, Wiped Out Dinosaurs

A jumble of entombed plants and creatures offers a vivid glimpse of the apocalypse that all but ended life 66 million years ago.

By William J. Broad and Kenneth Chang
March 29, 2019

Sixty-six million years ago, a giant meteor slammed into Earth off the coast of modern-day Mexico. Firestorms incinerated the landscape for miles around. Even creatures thousands of miles away were doomed on that fateful day, if not by fire and brimstone, then by mega-earthquakes and waves of unimaginable size.

Now, scientists have unearthed a remarkable trove of fossils that appear to date from the very day of the impact. The burial site consists of more than four feet of sediments and organic remains that were dumped in North Dakota almost instantly and transformed into rock over the eons. It evidently captures, in unparalleled detail, the repercussions of the giant doomsday rock that cleared the way for the evolution of mammals, including the primates known as humans.

In an article made available to reporters Friday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a leading science journal, an international team of 12 scientists described a dig near Bowman, N.D., that encapsulated the swift demise of an ancient lake and its inhabitants.

When the meteor smashed into waters near what is now Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, it left a giant crater known as Chicxulub and prompted upheavals thousands of miles away, including what is now North Dakota. Within hours and perhaps minutes of the titanic collision, sea creatures were swept inland by tsunamis and earthquakes, tossed together and deposited with a diverse array of landlocked life, including trees, flowers and vanished types of freshwater fish.

The jumble was swiftly entombed, and exquisitely preserved. Permeating the deposit were tiny spheres of clay and glass, known as tektites, which formed as molten rock, ejected by the impact, showered from the sky.

In the paper, the researchers argue that the fossil bed captures the Chicxulub impact’s immediate ramifications for life on Earth. It appears to be the best-ever snapshot of that day, one that advances the scientific understanding of “the full nature and extent of biotic disruptions that took place,” the authors write.

The lead researcher, Robert A. DePalma, is a curator of paleontology at the Palm Beach Museum of Natural History, in Florida, as well as a graduate student at the University of Kansas. Thirty-seven years old, he was granted access to the rich fossil bed by a rancher in 2012, then mined it secretly for years. His efforts are detailed in an article in The New Yorker that was posted online on Friday.

Gradually, Mr. DePalma shared his findings with top scientists, some of whom have now joined him as co-authors. They include Walter Alvarez, a geologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who pioneered the idea decades ago that the dinosaur extinction was the result of such a cosmic impact.

The paper describes how tektites, raining into the water, clogged the gills of fish, which were then killed by surges of water. The water could have traveled up from the Gulf of Mexico through an inland sea that cut through North America at the time. But the authors argue for another, more likely explanation: That cataclysmic waves from the impact — which produced the equivalent of a magnitude 10 or 11 earthquake — sloshed water out of distant lakes and seas and up their connected river channels.

“It basically agitates water like a washing machine,” said Phillip L. Manning, a paleontologist at the University of Manchester in England and one of the authors of the paper. “When that shock wave dissipates, it almost instantly drops out what was in this water body.”

Those contents, he said, formed the North Dakota deposit that he, Mr. DePalma and their colleagues described in their paper.

Mr. DePalma initially was disappointed with what he found, he said. He had hoped that the site would reveal rhythmic seasonal changes over a period of years. Instead, the material had been dumped in one big surge. “My idea of multi-season pond deposits was out the window,” he said.

In the deposit, the team discovered an ancient freshwater pond whose occupants had been quickly cemented together by waves of sediment and debris. The fossils include sturgeon and six-foot-long paddlefish, their scales intact but their bodies ripped and smashed; marine mollusks; leaves and tree fronds, and the burned trunks of trees. The fish carcasses were not bloated, decayed, or scavenged, suggesting that they were buried quickly — and that few animals were left alive after the cataclysm to come digging.

The fossil deposit also teems with tektites, tiny glass beads that are the telltale fallout of planetary-scale impacts. Fifty percent of the fossilized fish were found with tektites in their gills, as if the fish had inhaled the material. Also recovered were tektites trapped in amber. Their chemical composition was unchanged in 66 million years, and it closely matched the unique chemical signature of other tektites associated with the Chicxulub event.

The top layer of the fossil bed was found to be rich in iridium, a rare metal that Dr. Alvarez had originally identified at other sites as arising from the giant object that struck the Earth. Iridium, a precious metal belonging to the platinum group of elements, is more abundant in meteorites than in terrestrial rocks.

“Just the idea of fish with impact particles stuck in their gills from 66 million years ago, and trees with amber with impact particles, it’s so extraordinary that you do a double take for sure,” said Matthew Lamanna, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, who was not involved with the research. “With the caveat that what they’re trying to show is really, really hard to show, I think they’ve done an excellent job of making that case.”

The Chicxulub impact and the global disaster it wrought are sometimes held up as the death stroke for the dinosaurs. But many scientists argue that an array of other factors, including volcanic eruptions and climatic disruptions, contributed to the demise of the giant reptiles.

The article in The New Yorker describes information about the discovery site that goes well beyond what is found in the scientific paper. Mr. DePalma is quoted as having also found the remains of many dinosaurs in the deposit, implying that the North Dakota site might turn out to be the world’s first to clearly associate the cosmic blow to the end of the dinosaur age.

Mr. DePalma unearthed “broken teeth and bones, including hatchling remains, of almost every dinosaur group,” according to the article, which was written by Douglas Preston. A dinosaur egg contained an embryo and other remains, which “suggested that dinosaurs and major reptiles were probably not staggering into extinction on that fateful day.”

In an interview, Steve Brusatte, a vertebrate paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh, called The New Yorker portrayal of the fossil find “a remarkable story” that he wanted to believe. “But it’s disappointing that the dinosaurs are not mentioned in the peer-reviewed paper,” he said. “And because they’re not, there simply isn’t any evidence for me to assess.”

For now, Dr. Brusatte said, “I am left with more questions than answers when it comes to the dinosaur aspect of this story.”

Mr. DePalma said the purpose of this first paper was to establish the geology and timing of what happened on that catastrophic day. Subsequent papers will go into more detail about the residents, including dinosaurs, that died, he said: “It wasn’t a paper about dinosaurs. This was a basic overview of the site and how it was formed.”

 

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On 3/29/2019 at 9:48 PM, Mojo Hand said:

This is astounding and almost beyond belief... 

I agree with this. I'm going to need to see the paper before I can really comment. Those are some sensational claims. He's going to need some pretty sensational evidence. Even if he actually does have an impact, it's going to be tough to tie it directly to the Chicxulub impact. 

Many of the important conclusions from this are going to rely on his field notes and mapping of things as they were excavated. He's going to need excellent field methods, mapping and notes to support that claim. 

I assume Steve Brusatte has seen an advance copy and I agree with his comment that if DePalma is claiming to have dinosaur fossils from this deposit, it is extremely disappointing that the paper apparently doesn't mention them. It's irresponsible to talk to the press about them if he has no intent to put them in the paper. Given he mis-identified turtle bone as dinosaur bone in a previous paper, we need to see these "dinosaur" fossils to make sure they are what he claims. They would be a very big deal. If they're legit, they're the highest and therefore youngest non-avian dinosaur fossils ever found. I'm very skeptical of this claim. given the fossils aren't in the paper. 

It doesn't sound like he's being very transparent so far either. That's not a terribly good sign. 

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17 minutes ago, Pods said:

I agree with this. I'm going to need to see the paper before I can really comment. Those are some sensational claims. He's going to need some pretty sensational evidence. Even if he actually does have an impact, it's going to be tough to tie it directly to the Chicxulub impact. 

Many of the important conclusions from this are going to rely on his field notes and mapping of things as they were excavated. He's going to need excellent field methods, mapping and notes to support that claim. 

I assume Steve Brusatte has seen an advance copy and I agree with his comment that if DePalma is claiming to have dinosaur fossils from this deposit, it is extremely disappointing that the paper apparently doesn't mention them. It's irresponsible to talk to the press about them if he has no intent to put them in the paper. Given he mis-identified turtle bone as dinosaur bone in a previous paper, we need to see these "dinosaur" fossils to make sure they are what he claims. They would be a very big deal. If they're legit, they're the highest and therefore youngest non-avian dinosaur fossils ever found. I'm very skeptical of this claim. given the fossils aren't in the paper. 

It doesn't sound like he's being very transparent so far either. That's not a terribly good sign. 

When you read that whole article it’s exciting til the end then begins to really fall on its face.  I still want to believe...

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10 hours ago, Pods said:

I agree with this. I'm going to need to see the paper before I can really comment. Those are some sensational claims. He's going to need some pretty sensational evidence. Even if he actually does have an impact, it's going to be tough to tie it directly to the Chicxulub impact. 

Many of the important conclusions from this are going to rely on his field notes and mapping of things as they were excavated. He's going to need excellent field methods, mapping and notes to support that claim. 

I assume Steve Brusatte has seen an advance copy and I agree with his comment that if DePalma is claiming to have dinosaur fossils from this deposit, it is extremely disappointing that the paper apparently doesn't mention them. It's irresponsible to talk to the press about them if he has no intent to put them in the paper. Given he mis-identified turtle bone as dinosaur bone in a previous paper, we need to see these "dinosaur" fossils to make sure they are what he claims. They would be a very big deal. If they're legit, they're the highest and therefore youngest non-avian dinosaur fossils ever found. I'm very skeptical of this claim. given the fossils aren't in the paper. 

It doesn't sound like he's being very transparent so far either. That's not a terribly good sign. 

How bad was the turtle bone mistake?  On a scale from something like that can easily happen to he must completely suck to have made that mistake.

Do you know anything about the other authors on the paper that would support its credibility? 

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11 hours ago, Pods said:

I agree with this. I'm going to need to see the paper before I can really comment. Those are some sensational claims. He's going to need some pretty sensational evidence. Even if he actually does have an impact, it's going to be tough to tie it directly to the Chicxulub impact. 

Many of the important conclusions from this are going to rely on his field notes and mapping of things as they were excavated. He's going to need excellent field methods, mapping and notes to support that claim. 

I assume Steve Brusatte has seen an advance copy and I agree with his comment that if DePalma is claiming to have dinosaur fossils from this deposit, it is extremely disappointing that the paper apparently doesn't mention them. It's irresponsible to talk to the press about them if he has no intent to put them in the paper. Given he mis-identified turtle bone as dinosaur bone in a previous paper, we need to see these "dinosaur" fossils to make sure they are what he claims. They would be a very big deal. If they're legit, they're the highest and therefore youngest non-avian dinosaur fossils ever found. I'm very skeptical of this claim. given the fossils aren't in the paper. 

It doesn't sound like he's being very transparent so far either. That's not a terribly good sign. 

Well, there goes my dinosaur boner.....

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11 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

I like pods coming in to deflate everyone’s excitement about science. It’s about the most sciencey thing a scientist can do.

Ive got a hot little investment opportunity for you, called Theranos. Cutting edge science, no technical scientist bullshit.  

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3 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

But ocean front property was dirt cheap.

Speaking of which, after reading pods' post, maybe the guy's trying to lipstick-pig up some cheapo real estate in N. Dakota.  I mean, North Dakota and all... you ever been to North Dakota?

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On 3/31/2019 at 12:49 AM, ImissWallyPryor said:

This Steve Brusatte guy sounds like a little bitch.

Steve is actually a really awesome dude. One of the nicer, more humble guys in our field and very bright. He could hang at an old school shag happy hour just fine and y'all would like him. He recently wrote a dinosaur book. I picked it up at an airport book store and its pretty good. You won't need much background knowledge to read it, but you will also enjoy it you already know a lot too. 

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Dinosaurs-History-World/dp/0062490427

On 3/31/2019 at 11:01 AM, Dennis Taylor said:

Maybe this article was supposed to come out monday

Definitely should have. 

On 3/31/2019 at 11:33 AM, Mojo Hand said:

How bad was the turtle bone mistake?  On a scale from something like that can easily happen to he must completely suck to have made that mistake.

Do you know anything about the other authors on the paper that would support its credibility? 

Honestly, I can sort of see why he called it that. The turtle bone does superficially resemble the wishbone of that type of dinosaur. I might have thought that at first too. Granted, I have the benefit of hindsight, but the ridging on the edge is completely unlike any other wishbone I've ever seen and that would hopefully have given me pause. Those ridges indicate a suture (junction with another bone) that is long and gradually sloped. Another bone overlapped it for the entire length of those ridges. The wishbones are fused clavicles (our shoulder bones). They don't attach to anything gradually. 

That ridging is really noticeable and they probably should have caught that. It superficially looks like the sutures commonly found on fish bones. Not everyone gets a really broad comparative anatomy background, so it's a somewhat understandable mistake. Fundamentally, it doesn't change anything else about the fossil. 

Here's the figure from the paper comparing it to other wishbones. His fossil is labeled A. Note the weird ridges on the right that don't appear on any other specimen in the image. 

f06_01.jpg

Here it is compared to turtle plastron pieces, which it is. 

fig-1-2x.jpg

 

 

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Do you know anything about the other authors on the paper that would support its credibility?

I am friends with Phil Manning and I know Pete Larson in passing. Phil can be a brilliant scientist, but he's out on the edge a lot, which can be boom or bust. He's also a really good hype man, so you have to keep that in mind with his stuff. 

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