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Researchers from Stellenbosch University and somewhere else have actually utilized innovative uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating and essential mapping to determine trace quantities of uranium and lead inside the calcite of fossilized dinosaur eggshells discovered in the United States and Mongolia.
An artist’s restoration of a newly-hatched troodontid-like dinosaur amongst pieces of its eggshell. Image credit: Eva Utsukiyouhei.
Numerous fossil websites worldwide are just coarsely dated.
Without exact details on the geologic age of fossils, paleontologists have a hard time to comprehend how various types and communities relate throughout time and area.
Generally, they count on dating minerals such as zircon or apatite discovered related to fossils, however those minerals aren’t constantly present.
Efforts to date the fossils themselves, such as bones or teeth, have actually typically produced unsure outcomes.
Stellenbosch University’s Dr. Ryan Tucker and associates took a various method: they utilized innovative U-Pb dating and essential mapping to determine trace quantities of uranium and lead housed inside the calcite of fossilized dinosaur eggshells.
These isotopes work like a natural clock, allowing researchers to figure out when the eggs were buried.
Tests on dinosaur eggs from Utah in the United States and the Gobi Desert in Mongolia revealed that the eggshells record ages with a precision of about 5% relative to exact volcanic-ash dates.
In Mongolia, the scientists identified the first-ever direct age– around 75 million years of ages– for a historical region protecting dinosaur eggs and nests.
“Eggshell calcite is extremely flexible,” Dr. Tucker stated.
“It provides us a brand-new method to date fossil websites where volcanic layers are missing out on, an obstacle that has actually restricted paleontology for years.”
By revealing that dinosaur eggshells can dependably tape the passage of geologic time, the research study links biology and Earth science in a brand-new method– providing scientists an effective tool to date fossil websites around the world.
“Direct dating of fossils is a paleontologist’s dream,” stated Dr. Lindsay Zanno, a paleontologist at North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
“Armed with this brand-new method, we can decipher secrets about dinosaur development that utilized to be overwhelming.”
The group’s work was released in the journal Communications Earth & & Environment
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R.T. Tucker et al2025. U-Pb calcite age dating of fossil eggshell as a precise deep time geochronometer. Commun Earth Environ 6, 872; doi: 10.1038/ s43247-025-02895-w
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