Based on scientists who have used the “atomic clock” method so far samples, 28 dinosaur egg clutch found in the Qinglongshan Fossil Reserve in Central China is about 86 million years. Investigators said they are now expecting eggs and their age used can help reveal how dinosaurs living in the Chinese Yunyang Basin, adapted to the cool climate.
Dating techniques used on eggs are more formally known as carbonate uranium-shvin or U-PB dating, is a common carbonate mineral ages that contain calcium, iron, manganese and magnesium. These minerals contain uranium, and over time it breaks down into lead.
Scientists used a micro -laser to shave pieces of fossilized eggshell samples, evaporated mineral fragments and counted the number of uranium and lead atoms. By evaluating the ratio of uranium to lead, they were able to determine the age of the egg.
The latest calcite-calcium carbonate-formed-admitification in fossil eggshells indicates that eggs will be good candidates for U-PB dating, researchers said Thursday in the Land Science journal. Eggs are the first fossils, reliably dated to the Qinglongshan Fossil Reserve with three places containing more than 3,000 eggs, most of which are semi -exhibited and preserved in 3D and their original forms are largely not damaged.
Most of the eggs in the dendroolithidae family belong to the species of placeolithus tumiaollingensis – a classification that originated from eggs, not a dinosaur fossil skeleton. (Dinosaur, which has eggs, has not yet been identified.) Eggs are slightly leveled spheres of approximately 4.7-6.7 inches (120 to 170 millimeters) and mineralized shells are not more than 0.09 inches (2.4 millimeter) thick.
The egg shells in this group are usually relatively porous to dinosaur eggs, and this feature can offer clues about this ancient ecosystem during the Cretan period (145-66 million years ago) when the Earth has already begun to cool.
Direct dating
The dinosaur egg clutch had 28 eggs. Most of the eggs Qinglongshan place belongs to the species of Placoolichus tumiaoolingensis. – Bi zhao
Paleontologists often appreciate the age of plant and animal fossils based on sediment when organic matter was preserved. However, fossils can enter the location against nearby rock, lava or ash deposits, which means they may be older or younger than the place they have found.
Their idea to try U-PB dating with calcited in fossilized eggs, “a little serendipitically appeared during conversations with researchers specializing in stalagmit chronology using carbonate U-PB methods,” BI Zhao, a Hubei researcher at Wuhan, China. “We decided to try Qinglongshan eggs without expecting such clear and reliable results.”
Geochronology-Auoji and Mineral Age Decision Science-Using U-PB analysis “So far is the most accurate dating technique,” said Heriberto Rochín-Baga, a collaborator of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto. Rochín-bañaga, who did not participate in new studies, used this method to analyze ancient corals and belemnites-fingered by the order of the Calmes-like heads.
Scientists have used U-PB dating rocks, which have between 1 million and hundreds of millions of years, and have a great certainty due to their results, Zhao said. There are other ancient geological analysis of radioactive degradation systems, but “the U-PB system is considered the most accurate,” wrote Rochín-Buñaga email. In the letter.
Recent achievements have made U-PB more accessible, but it is still not widely available to analysis of fossil materials, says Zhao. “This requires very sophisticated equipment and strict laboratory conditions,” he added that samples should be carefully collected and investigated to prevent contamination with other materials that can drive from chronology. And while the presence of calcite in egg shells has done this analysis, it may not be other types of fossils.
“Theoretically, this method could be applied to other fossils that contain primary carbonate minerals. But we haven’t tried it yet,” Zhao said. “The possibility depends on the preservation of the carbonate material and the geological context.”
Cretaceous view
The interior of the Museum of the Museum of the Dinosaurus Eggs in the China’s China Mountains in the National Geopark. – Bi zhao
The Qinglongshan location is a rare view of the terrestrial chalk showing the behavior of dinosaur nests and how the chalk dinosaur group interacted with its environment.
The porosity of these eggs can be an evolutionary adaptation in this unidentified species of dinosaur, but it is also unknown whether porous eggs were beneficial or deficiency because their world has cooled.
In the course of determining the U-PB dating as a method of determining the age of fossil eggs, researchers are planning to apply this technique to other nearby chalk sites, “to better understand the origin and development of these exclusive eggs”, as well as to help them with dinosaurus, said Zhao. With more than 200 dinosaur eggs around the world, only a handful of which were dated, U-PB dating can be a valuable new means of retention of eggs to dinosaurs and find out how it could have changed over time.
“If it was widely adapted,” said Zhao, “this approach could help determine the firm chronological basis of dinosaur reproduction behavior.”
Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and how it works in the magazine. It is “Rise of the Zombie Bugs: A surprising science of parasitic mind control” (Hopkins Press).
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