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Showing posts with the label tetrapods

The Oldest Footprints in the World - Locked in Stone

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THESE BONES NEED A HOME LET'S BUILD A PALEO-CENTRE Learn More Here Blue Beach, Nova Scotia has yielded the earliest collection of tetrapod tracks on Earth, with more than 2000 specimens in the study sample of the Blue Beach museum. Here is less than half of those laid out in the driveway for viewing. Prior to this only 3 examples have been described in the scientific literature. Blue Beach is now understood to produce the most significant track discoveries of the decade. We have discovered several new morphotypes, and are clarifying some of the mysteries in how early tetrapod ecosystems worked. This is one example of the acceleration of discovery  at Blue Beach. Our friends and colleagues were pleasantly intrigued by the preservation of the 350 myo footprints found at Blue Beach, Nova Scotia. New Mexico paleontologist, Dr. Spencer Lucas (left) and Nova Scotia's Natural Resources paleontologist, Dr. John Calder (right) discuss aspects of variability and clarity...

The Lagersatatte - A Fossil Motherlode

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Let's Build A 'Paleo-Centre' at Blue Beach Blue Beach  Nova Scotia  Canada 'A PALEO-MAVERICKS DREAM' A "fossil lagerstatte" is a place where the evidence coming from the fossils provides a unique window into the past, making it invaluable to science. Lagerstattes are irreplacable and one of a kind.  The term comes from the German word, literally meaning "place of deposit" - but in paleo it has come to me an "motherlode".  (Photo credit: Gerald MacKenzie) Blue Beach, in Nova Scotia (Canada) is the oldest Carboniferous fossil lagerstatte, with a wide array of fossil evidence that informs us about life roughly 350,000,000 years ago, when the first tetrapod groups began radiating into key terrestrial groups.  (Photo credit: Google) The evidence from Blue Beach is proven to be rich in not only vertebrate bones: it also contains a diversity of plants and invertebrates, and an amazing diversity of trace fossils. Blue ...