The sand most likely hit the animal in the head

Mar 24, 2010 08:59 GMT  ·  By
Paleontologist Mark Loewen displays the newly discovered dinosaur species, Seitaad ruessi
   Paleontologist Mark Loewen displays the newly discovered dinosaur species, Seitaad ruessi

According to the results of a new scientific study, a sand dune collapse that took place some 185 million years ago may have been the principal factor behind a dinosaur fossil recovered from Utah. Researchers hypothesize in a recently-published study that a large amount of the stuff collapsed at one point, hitting a plant-eating dinosaur smack in the head, and burying it until 2004, when a local historian happened to stumble upon it.

The animal was found in the cliffs of the Navajo Sandstone, near Bluff Utah, by Joe Pachak. As he was hiking, the man saw the bony remains protruding from the rocks, and immediately realized their importance. The entire area is a fossil, the remnant of an amazingly-large sand dune desert, which was most likely just as widespread as the Sahara is today in Africa. The animal was named after the Navajo word “Seit'aad,” referring to a monster living in the desert, which is a part of the tribe's creation myths. The dinosaur was dubbed Seitaad ruessi.

It took another year until paleontologists and their support crews manage to fully excavate the skeleton, including most of its bones. However, they failed to find the head, as well as some parts of its neck and tail. What is interesting to note, the researchers say, is that the fossil would have been recovered intact, had the excavations been performed a few thousands years ago. Oddly enough, the head and other lost segments endured millions of years of being preserved in the ground, but failed to withstand the last few thousand years of erosion. Details of the fossil appear in the March 24 issue of the open-access scientific journal PLoS ONE, LiveScience reports.

“Although Seitaad was preserved in a sand dune, this ancient desert must have included wetter areas with enough plants to support these smaller dinosaurs and other animals. Just like in deserts today, life would have been difficult in Utah's ancient 'sand sea',” says J.J.W Sertich, from the Utah Museum of Natural History. The expert, who collaborated with colleague paleontologist Mark Loewen for this investigation, adds that the new animal was about 1 meter tall at the hips, and that it weighed 70 to 90 kilograms. Its average body length may have reached 3 to 4.5 meters.