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Indian Express
a day ago
- Science
- Indian Express
Dinosaur fossil unearthed beneath Colorado museum's parking lot
In a surprising event, scientists at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, in Colorado, US, have unearthed a rare dinosaur fossil. And not from a faraway dig site, but from right beneath the museum's own parking lot! The discovery, revealed by the museum on July 9, came during a routine drilling operation in January aimed at evaluating the feasibility of switching to geothermal energy. As the team extracted a cylindrical rock core from 760 feet below the surface, they encountered a fossilised vertebra measuring about 2.5 inches in diameter. It turned out to be the oldest and deepest dinosaur fossil ever found within Denver's city limits, according to the museum's release, cited by CNN. The partial vertebra is believed to belong to an herbivorous, bipedal dinosaur from the ornithopod group, a category of plant-eating dinosaurs that includes duck-billed hadrosaurs. Though scientists were unable to identify the exact species, the fossil dates back more than 67 million years, placing it in the Late Cretaceous period. 'We knew those dinosaurs were nearby in other parts of Colorado or Wyoming, but we didn't know that they were in Denver, too,' said Dr James Hagadorn, the museum's curator of geology, as per CNN reports. 'Now, we have another plant eater that's been cruising around Denver munching on, who knows, gingers and palm leaves and other ferns and plants 67 million years ago.' The museum, which houses about 115,000 fossils in its collection, has now placed the ornithopod vertebra on public display. Hagadorn noted that there are only two other known instances worldwide of a dinosaur bone being found through a core sampling project, making this fossil likely the first of its kind ever showcased in a museum. Despite the fossil's importance, the rest of the dinosaur's remains will remain underground. 'Unfortunately, we can't excavate our entire parking lot. Parking is really important at the museum and in all cultural centres,' Hagadorn joked according to CNN. 'But the bonus here is that people can now park right on top of a dinosaur.' The drilling project initially aimed to explore alternative energy sources, not fossils. 'It's like the lucky strike,' Hagadorn told CNN. The museum team has since used satellite and elevation data to date the new fossil and others in the Denver region more precisely. Their findings, published in Rocky Mountain Geology in June, offer a clearer picture of Denver's ancient inhabitants, which include not just ornithopods but also Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and Torosaurus. 'No one ever dated these things before,' said Hagadorn. 'Today, we were able to use some specialised maps, geologic maps, GIS and really precise elevations that you can now get from satellites to place all these things in space and then in time.' (With inputs from CNN)


Time of India
5 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
Scientists discover 67.5-million-year-old dinosaur fossil beneath Denver Museum parking lot
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Colorado located an approximately 67.5-million-year-old partial dinosaur bone 763 feet below its parking lot. What makes it a special discovery is that it is the oldest and deepest ever found in Denver. The museum, which has been popular and has attracted visitors for decades to see the fossilized bones of prehistoric behemoths, is filled with exhibits of dinosaur skeletons. The fossil was unearthed as part of a drilling project that was undertaken with the purpose of better understanding the geology of the Denver Basin, according to media reports. As a part of the project, the museum wanted to understand the geology to see if it would be possible to replace natural gas with geothermal systems to heat and cool the museum. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Select a Course Category others Leadership Management Healthcare Artificial Intelligence CXO Operations Management Technology Others Public Policy Degree MCA PGDM Project Management Data Science MBA Finance Data Analytics Product Management healthcare Design Thinking Data Science Digital Marketing Cybersecurity Skills you'll gain: Duration: 16 Weeks Indian School of Business CERT - ISB Cybersecurity for Leaders Program India Starts on undefined Get Details 'This partial vertebra from a plant-eating dinosaur offers an extraordinary glimpse into prehistoric Denver and the animals that inhabited this area,' the museum wrote in a statement, as quoted by Popular Mechanics. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 20 Pieces of Clothing Older Women should Avoid Learn More Undo Two drilling rigs drilled test holes beneath a paved parking lot at the museum, going nearly 1,000 feet deep. Earlier in 2025, one of the museum's geologists spotted a dinosaur bone while sorting through the finds, instantly sparking excitement among the staff. "There are never fossil emergencies," Hagadorn said in an interview. "But that was a fossil emergency," James Hagadorn, the museum's curator of geology, said in an interview. Live Events 'It's like winning a lottery': Museum curator on dinosaur bone discovery What are the chances of discovering a dinosaur bone in a core sample that's only 2.5 inches wide? 'It's basically like winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning on the same day,' says James Hagadorn, the museum's curator of geology, in the statement. Bob Raynolds, an Earth scientist who has been associated with the museum for 35 years, described the discovery as 'nothing short of magical.' It is, however, still not clear which species the bone came from, but media reports suggest that experts suspect the creature may have been similar to Thescelosaurus or Edmontosaurus. These two dinosaurs were known to have roamed the region around the same time. How Did Scientists Discover the Age The scientists used the existing map of the horizon and measured the depth of various fossil discoveries in the area and compared them with the one made in January 2025 to find out the estimated age of 70 million years. The fossil is cylindrical and just inches long, and there is a chance that it is a part of a bigger bone. The fossil is too small to be linked to a specific dinosaur. The museum team, though, hypothesizes that it belonged to an ornithopod, a small herbivore. It is also believed that this may be the oldest dinosaur fossil found in the Denver area. Following the latest major discovery, scientists at the museum are confident that there are more fossils buried in the excavated materials from the drilled core and have been combing through them to see if there are others.

11-07-2025
- Science
Jurassic Park-ing lot: Dino fossil turns Denver museum into dig site
Like finding mountains of gold bars below a bank or happening upon a rare piece of art hidden beneath a gallery, a Denver museum that's full of fossils serendipitously discovered -- wait for it -- a dinosaur bone, right under its parking lot. "Wow, what are the chances?" James Hagadorn, a geology curator at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, told ABC News. Back in January, the museum found a fossil of a plant-eating dinosaur, believed to be nearly 68 million years old, lying about 800 feet below the parking lot, the museum announced this week. At the time of the discovery, scientists were conducting a "geothermal test drilling project" to determine whether the museum could use the heat of the Earth underneath the parking lot in City Park, Colorado, the museum said in a press release. This dino-mite find, which Hagadorn described as "quite the cherry" on top of the project's intended mission, was discovered 763 feet below the surface and was identified as the "deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within the city's limits," the museum said in a press release. Museum scientists believe the fossil the vertebra of an herbivorous dinosaur -- possibly a Thescelosaurus or Edmontosaurus -- that roamed the region 67.5 million years ago, which is "just days before the mass extinction that wiped our the dinosaurs," the museum noted. Hagadorn said his "head just exploded" when he heard the news of the discovery, which has been on display among the museum's collection of more than 300,000 fossils since Wednesday. "It was absolutely incredible. The first thing you say is, 'Are you sure? Is this real? Are you playing a joke on me?'" he said. "That's like finding a diamond deposit under the world's largest gem store or an archeological site buried underneath the parking lot of an archeological museum." Hagadorn noted that this isn't the first time Colorado has seen a discovery like this. Previously, a horn of a Triceratops was found underneath Coors Field's home plate and "tons of cool fossils" have been located underneath Denver International Airport, he said. "The exciting thing to me is that there's the potential to find more, and that's both thrilling in the sense of discovery, but it's also interesting because these things are good for science, they tell us about our place, they tell us about our ecosystems [and] they tell us how the plane has changed. So it's a win, win, win," Hagadorn told ABC News. Even though Hagadorn said he would "love to go 750 feet down" again and see if there are more potential fossils underneath the museum's parking lot, he said that would be unlikely due to the scope of such a project. "In order to go that deep, you've got to dig a very big hole and then hold that hole open either by lining it or making it tapered. If we think about a tapered hole that goes down that deep, that would probably consume all our parking lot and maybe part of the museum too. So boy, it's fun to think about, but I think it's unlikely," he said. Hagadorn expressed his hope that the fossil -- which is within the museum's "Discovering Teen Rex" exhibition -- reminds people that "there's lots of geology underfoot." "The layers of Earth underneath us tell us stuff that's useful, whether that information is from a fossil or a mineral or some water that's flowing underfoot," he said. "Imagine what's underneath your house or mine. Who knows?" Hagadorn said the museum will have "tons" of free admission days for "everyone to access" the fossil and anything else within the facility.


The Hill
11-07-2025
- Science
- The Hill
Denver dinosaur museum makes ‘historically thrilling' discovery under its own parking lot
DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) announced on Wednesday that it had discovered a nearly 70-million-year-old dinosaur fossil underneath its parking lot. The partial-bone fossil was found 763 feet below the lot during a geothermal test drilling project in January, according to the museum. 'This is a scientifically and historically thrilling find for both the Museum and the larger Denver community,' said James Hagadorn, the curator of geology at the DMNS, in a statement. The museum said the fossil is the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within Denver city limits. BestReviews is reader-supported and may earn an affiliate commission. Amazon Prime Day Deals 'This fossil comes from an era just before the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it offers a rare window into the ecosystem that once existed right beneath modern-day Denver,' Hagadorn said. The fossil bone has been identified as a vertebrae of an herbivorous dinosaur, according to the museum, which said the bone occurs in Late Cretaceous rocks that are dated to approximately 67.5 million years ago. Patrick O'Connor, director of Earth & Space Science at the DMNS, was part of the team that identified the bone and said it may be 'the most unusual dinosaur discovery' he had ever been a part of. 'Not only is it exceptionally rare to find any fossil as part of a drilling project, but the discovery provided an outstanding collaborative opportunity for the Museum earth sciences team to produce an article,' O'Connor said. That article, 'Denver's deepest dinosaur,' was published in the scientific journal Rocky Mountain Geology in June. The research was led by DMNS postdoctoral scholar Dr. Holger Petermann. 'This fossil underscores the highly fossiliferous nature of the entire D1 Sequence (Denver Formation) and increases the diversity of dinosaurs known from the Denver metropolitan area,' reads an excerpt from the article's abstract. The fossil bone is now currently on display at the DMNS in its 'Discovering Teen Rex' exhibition.