Unexpected Dinosaur Fossil Found in Denver Museum
Jingwei Zhao
The Denver Museum of Science and Nature, known for its dinosaur fossil exhibits, has just dug up a fossil right under its parking lot.
The museum drilled the hole to observe the geology of the ground, as they hoped to replace their usage of natural gas with geothermal systems. Geothermal energy is renewable, and it taps into Earth’s natural heat to generate heat and electricity. Experimenting with the potential of geothermal heating, the museum started drilling a hole into its grounds. However, what they did not expect was to find a dinosaur fossil in the process.
According to museum worker James Hagadorn, the chances of finding dinosaur bones through this process are “super rare.” Museum officials have explained how unlikely it is to find a fossil through this method. According to them, there have only been two other instances of finding fossils by drilling a hole like this before.
The hole itself was over 750ft deep in the ground, but it was only a few inches wide. The method of how the bone was found is very surprising, as there were two rigs drilling rigs underneath one of the parking lots, with some reaching nearly 1,000 ft deep.
The fossil was found on January 30th, as one of the museum’s geologists found it while looking through what had been extracted. “I was like, ‘Oh, is that wishful thinking?’” said Patrick O’Connor, the director of earth and space sciences at the museum. It was already rare to find fossils, and discovering one during a drilling project is almost unheard of.
Museum workers speculate that the bone was part of the vertebrae of a small herbivorous dinosaur that would have lived during the late Cretaceous period, approximately 67.5 million years ago, but the fossil is too small for it to be linked to a specific species.
Discoveries of dinosaur fossils in the Denver area aren’t as uncommon, but museum workers believe that this fossil could also be the oldest found in the Denver area. Another amazing part of the fossil is that was extracted from deep under the ground, since most fossils are found near the surface. The museum scientists have been searching through the excavated leftovers, as they believe that more fossils are buried in them.
Associate professor of biology at Syracuse University Christopher Junium described the discovery as “extraordinary.” He remarked, “Poking the Earth with what amounts to a needle and coming up with a dinosaur is more like fiction than reality. Even if the find itself is not that groundbreaking, it is a fun discovery that underscores how much there is to learn when we look at the ground beneath our feet.”
The fossil is on display at the museum for a limited time in the “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibition, and there are no plans for more bones in the area. Mr. Hagadorn remarked that he would enjoy searching for the remaining fossils of the dinosaur, but space for parking is the priority. As of now, it does not look like further discoveries will occur.
