A Denver Dino Museum Makes A Find Deep Under Own Parking Lot

DENVER — A Denver depository known for its dinosaur displays has made a fossil bony find person to location than anyone ever expected, nether its ain parking lot.

It came from a spread drilled much than 750 feet (230 meters) heavy to study geothermal heating imaginable for nan Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

The depository is celebrated pinch dinosaur enthusiasts of each ages. Full-size dinosaur skeletons amaze kiddos hardly knee-high to a parent, overmuch little to a Tyrannosaurus.

This latest find is not truthful visually impressive. Even so, nan likelihood of uncovering nan hockey-puck-shaped fossil sample were impressively small.

With a bore only a mates of inches (5 centimeters) wide, depository officials struggled to picture conscionable really improbable it was to deed a dinosaur, moreover successful a region pinch a adjacent number of specified fossils.

“Finding a dinosaur bony successful a halfway is for illustration hitting a spread successful 1 from nan moon. It’s for illustration winning nan Willy Wonka factory. It’s incredible, it’s ace rare,” said James Hagadorn, nan museum’s curator of geology.

Geologist James Hagadorn closes boxes of halfway stone samples astatine nan Denver Museum of Nature & Science connected July 9. Thomas Peipert / AP

Only 2 akin finds person been noted successful bore spread samples anyplace successful nan world, not to mention connected nan grounds of a dinosaur museum, according to depository officials.

A vertebra of a smallish, plant-eating dinosaur is believed to beryllium nan source. It lived successful nan precocious Cretaceous play astir 67.5 cardinal years ago. An asteroid effect brought nan agelong era of dinosaurs to an extremity astir 66 cardinal years ago, according to scientists.

Fossilized vegetation besides was recovered successful nan bore spread adjacent nan bone.

“This animal was surviving successful what was astir apt a swampy situation that would person been heavy vegetated astatine nan time,” said Patrick O’Connor, curator of vertebrate paleontology astatine nan Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Dinosaur discoveries successful nan area complete nan years see portions of Tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops-type fossils. This 1 is Denver’s deepest and oldest yet, O’Connor said.

Other experts successful nan section vouched for nan find’s legitimacy but pinch mixed reactions.

“It’s a surprise, I guess. Scientifically it’s not that exciting,” said Thomas Williamson, curator of paleontology astatine nan New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science successful Albuquerque.

There was nary measurement to show precisely what type of dinosaur it was, Williamson noted.

The find is “absolutely legit and VERY COOL!” Erin LaCount, head of acquisition programs astatine nan Dinosaur Ridge way tract conscionable westbound of Denver, said by email.

The fossil’s style suggests it was a duck-billed dinosaur aliases thescelosaurus, a smaller but somewhat akin species, LaCount noted.

The bore-hole fossil is now connected show successful nan Denver Museum of Nature and Science, of course, but location are nary plans to look for much nether nan parking lot.

“I would emotion to excavation a 763-foot (233-meter) spread successful nan parking batch to excavate that dinosaur, nan remainder of it. But I don’t deliberation that’s going to alert because we really request parking,” Hagadorn said.