Scientists digging in Egypt's southwestern desert have uncovered fossilized remains of five extinct shark species dating to the Late Cretaceous period, a find that includes the first fossil record of its kind for Egypt and the African continent. Archaeologists excavating phosphate beds in the Duwi Formation, a geological deposit laid down when sea levels ran […] The post Five extinct shark species unearthed in Egypt's desert from the age of dinosaurs appeared first on American Almanac .
Scientists digging in Egypt's southwestern desert have uncovered fossilized remains of five extinct shark species dating to the Late Cretaceous period, a find that includes the first fossil record of its kind for Egypt and the African continent. Archaeologists excavating phosphate beds in the Duwi Formation, a geological deposit laid down when sea levels ran between 320 and 850 feet higher than they stand today, pulled 14 fossilized shark teeth from what was once a warm, tropical marine environment. The discovery, published in the journal Cretaceous Research , represents a new assemblage of extinct lamniform sharks, an order that includes some of the most formidable predators ever to patrol the world's oceans. The find matters because it…Open
Cairo University researchers pulled 14 fossilized shark teeth from a remote Egyptian plateau, identifying five extinct species that once prowled a warm sea where sand and rock now stretch for hundreds of miles. The teeth came from the Abu-Tartur Plateau, a phosphate-rich highland in Egypt's Western Desert roughly 400 miles southwest of Cairo. The plateau […] The post Fossilized shark teeth reveal a prehistoric ocean hidden beneath Egypt's desert appeared first on American Almanac .
Cairo University researchers pulled 14 fossilized shark teeth from a remote Egyptian plateau, identifying five extinct species that once prowled a warm sea where sand and rock now stretch for hundreds of miles. The teeth came from the Abu-Tartur Plateau, a phosphate-rich highland in Egypt's Western Desert roughly 400 miles southwest of Cairo. The plateau sits between the Kharga and Dakhla oases, today one of the country's most important mining and fertilizer sites. More than 70 million years ago, it was the floor of a tropical ocean. A team led by Cairo University recovered the fossils from a phosphate layer at the site and matched them against specimens found elsewhere in the world. Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal…Open
Researchers discovered evidence of enormous Kraken-like creatures who hunted in the seas some 100 million years ago, competing with large apex predators.