Researcher Finds Evidence of Ancient Natural Disaster
SHELL, Wyo. (AP) - A scientist has found fossil evidence of a large pileup of dinosaur bodies that suggests a possible natural disaster more than 140 million years ago.Kirby Siber, director of a commercial dinosaur museum in Aathal, Switzerland, said the evidence is contained in a dig he has been working for the past decade near Shell, in northern Wyoming. Siber believes the dinosaur fossils represent a remarkable Jurassic catastrophe, such as a huge hurricane, flood or similar natural event.
"This is not the temporary richness of one trap in one river," Siber said in Monday's editions of The Billings (Mont.) Gazette. "If there are dozens here, and we have proven that there are, then there are probably hundreds or even thousands.
"I'm starting to have visions of a huge catastrophe - maybe still local, but something that covered an entire lowland in dimensions you wouldn't see in a single quarry today," Siber said.
Siber's hypothesis has grown out of his 10 years of digging on a parcel of private land originally known as the Howe Ranch.
University of Wyoming paleontologist Brent Breithaupt said he, too, is intrigued by Siber's recent finds but hesitates to embrace any single explanation so soon. He said the attempt to date the fossils is critical.
"A quick, catastrophic explanation sometimes looks appealing, but it may not always be the right answer," he said.
[Source: Vancouver Sun / BC / Canada - September 14 1999 ]
