Chinese paleontologists claimed here Wednesday that they had discovered a large group of fossils from dinosaurs living in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province just prior to the catastrophe that depopulated the earth 65 million years ago.
They said the discovery could provide a very important clue as to the cause of the depopulation.
While recently prospecting, geologists with the Heilongjiang Provincial Geology Museum discovered a group of dinosaur fossils of various ages as well as fossils of ancient plants in the Wulagaarea stratum, about 100 kilometers south of the county town of Jiayin.
The fossilized skulls, centrum, limb bones and teeth belonged to a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Anky Losaurus and other species of dinosaurs, according to experts.
Initial findings show these dinosaurs lived on earth 65 to 70 million years ago, just prior to the mysterious disappearance of all creatures on earth, according to professor Dong Zhiming, a dinosaur expert with Jilin University. Dinosaurs dominated the earth for about 160 million years before the depopulation.
"We'll make further studies on the fossils to get an accurate date when these dinosaurs lived on earth," said Dong. "The closer the date is to the depopulation, the more it will help us to get a better understanding of what happened on earth at the time."
A group of elite scientists from China, the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan and the Republic of Korea, including Dong, are searching for stratum sections that completely record the catastrophic depopulation in Jiayin County.
"We are looking for a complete history book," said Sun Ge, a renowned Chinese paleontologist, who headed this research program. "The stratum sections are the book's pages and fossils of dinosaurs and other animals and plants are its content."
China's first dinosaur fossil used in scientific research was discovered in Jiayin in 1902. To date, a dozen dinosaur fossils and a large number of fossils of ancient animals and plants have been discovered in the county.
The fossils discovered here are superior in terms of formation, type and bio-diversity, said a Russian scientist who is attending the research program.
The recently-discovered fossils are very important chapters of the "history book" they are looking for. Four years will be spent on the study and good results are expected, he added.
(People's Daily September 12, 2002)
