A dinosaur graveyard in the Late Campanian (Late Cretaceous) at Cerro de Angostura near Porvenir de Jalpa, Coahuila, northeast Mexico
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
After political problems in starting up the project, we have now much improved our knowledge on the complex geology of the Las Aquilas site, especially on the cyclic events of a distal delta system. A sequence of 50 meters was logged and sampled. Lithology and fossil record suggest a change from the bottom half to the top of the sequence, where the marine influence becomes dominating. The Sr age was determined to 73 my, which is topmost Campanian. Dinosaurs and other animals lived in this delta and died there. Their carcasses were mostly destroyed in a way that mostly remains of partial skeletons are found that weather out in clusters. This means that carcasses were exposed until they were partially decayed. Floods and/or theropodian scavengers removed these carcasses partly. There are at least nine layers with dinosaur bone assemblages, but in only in one the dinosaur bones are associated with other vertebrates. We found first evidence for eusuchian crocodilians, two more types of turtles, birds and small dromaeosaurids, hadrosaur hatchlings, lambeosaurine hadrosaurids, teeth of a large theropod, ankylosaurs, plesiosaurs and further evidence of mosasaurs. Koprolites of turtles, crocodilians and likely theropods are further trace fossils of living animals. With the discovery of an ornithomimosaur by a private collector, the skeletal remains of the Las Águilas track makers is complete. We established a trustworthy relationship with the people of the ejido Porvenir de Jalpa. The government of Coahuila proclaimed Coahuila as “dinosaur state”. The sign plates of Coahuila now show dinosaurs and we established a tight collaboration with the leading scientist Héctor Rivera-Sylva, who showed us a new, very proliferous hadrosaur site, and the collection manager José Manuel Padilla Gutiérrez of the Museo del Desierto. Furthermore, we established a formal agreement (convenio) between the Servicio Géologico Méxicano and the Geological Institute of Heidelberg University. Spin-off projects comprise a new track site near the town of Paredon west of Saltillo and a new potential collaboration partner, Belinda Espinosa, head of the palaeontology museum of Escuela Normal Superior de Estado de Coahuila. Furthermore we managed to catch the interest of Anne Schulp from Naturalis, The Netherlands, to co-finance a 3D scan and a photogrammetric analysis of the best preserved tracks at Las Águilas. A big surprise was the reaction of the public to newspaper articles about our work in Las Aquilas and lectures of EF about our work in México: 2016 the recognised journal “Bild der Wissenschaft” will carry out a readers’ journey to Las Águilas under the guidance of WS and EF.
Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)
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2014: Dinosaurs and other reptiles from the Mesozoic of Mexico. Indiana University Press (Serie „Life of the past“): 232 Seiten
Rivera-Sylva, H.E., Carpenter, K. & Frey, E. (Eds.)
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Paleogeography and paleoenvironment of Mexico during the Mesozoic. In: Rivera-Sylva, H.E., Carpenter, K. & Frey, E. (eds.), 2014: Dinosaurs and other reptiles from the Mesozoic of Mexico. Indiana University Press (Serie „Life of the past“): 13-29
Stinnesbeck, W. & Frey, E.
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Plesiosaurs, reptiles between grace and awe. In: Rivera-Sylva, H.E., Carpenter, K. & Frey, E. (eds.), 2014: Dinosaurs and other reptiles from the Mesozoic of Mexico. Indiana University Press (Serie „Life of the past“): 79-98
Frey, E. & Stinnesbeck, W.
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The dinosaur delta at Las Águilas, Coahuila, Mexico. 23rd LAK, 2014, Heidelberg, abstract volume: 6
Frey, E., Rivera-Silva, H. E., Padilla, J.-M., Stinnesbeck, W. & González González, A. H.
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The dinosaur delta at Las Águilas, Coahuila, Mexico. Abstract book and Fieldtrip Guide, EAVP 12th annual meeting, Torino – Italy, 24.-28. June 2014 (M. Delfino, G. Carnevale & M. Pavia eds.): 65
Frey, E., Rivera-Silva, H. E., Padilla, J.-M., Stinnesbeck, W. & González González, A. H.
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2015: News about the Late Cretaceous Las Águilas dinosaur graveyard, Coahuila, Mexico. 13th annual meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontolgists, Opole, Poland, 8.-12. July 2015: 71
Frey, E,.Rivera Sylva, H., Stinnesbeck, W., Schulp, A., J Padilla Gutierrez, J.M., Vanhecke, V., González González, A.H. & Amezcua Torres, N.
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Age and depositional environment of the “dinosaur graveyard” at Las Águilas, southern Coahuila, NE Mexico. - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology; Volume 441, Part 4, 1 January 2016, Pages 758-769
Vogt, M., Stinnesbeck, W., Zell, P. Kober, B. Kontny, J. Herzer, N. Frey, E., Rivera-Sylva, H. E., Padilla Gutierrez, J. M., Amezcua, N. & Flores Hoertae, D.
