Latest news with #MDEQ
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Evidence of 30-foot ancient sea monster found in Mississippi
Geologists working in Mississippi recently stumbled upon an incredible find: the fossil of an ancient marine apex predator. They uncovered a piece of vertebra they said likely belonged to a mosasaur, a lizard ancestor that lived in the Late Cretaceous period, according to James Starnes, research director for the surface geology and surface mapping divisions for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. On April 15, researchers were collecting rock, sediment and fossil samples just south of Starkville, Mississippi, Starnes said. Poking out from the sediment of a creek bed was the end an "unusually large" lumbar vertebra. MORE: What paleontologists learned from fossils of a 3-eyed predator that lived 500 million years ago After Starnes pointed it out, Jonathan Leard, the lead author of the MDEQ's geological map, pulled the vertebra out of the clay. "Both of us are standing there looking at each other with our jaws wide open because of the size," Starnes said. Starnes "immediately" knew they had found a mosasaur based on the shape of the vertebra, he said. The researchers estimated the specimen, determined to be Mosasaurus hoffmannii, was between 30 and 40 feet long when it died, but mosasaurs typically grew to be about 50 feet and weighed 20,000 pounds. "These animals, like other lizards, are indeterminate," Starnes said. "That means they just keep growing, with age, until they die." MORE: Underwater camera captures elusive tentacled creature 3 miles below ocean surface Due to its geological formations, the Mississippi region is known for its fossils, but this was especially rare, Starnes said. Shell fossils are common, as are much younger Ice Age fossils from land animals, such as mastodons and sloths. But mosasaurs have a "very different" vertebra shape than other animals. "This was distinctly not a mammal," Starnes said. "This was definitely a sea lizard." Mosasaurs, a diverse group of marine lizards, conquered the seas in the Late Cretaceous period, a time when dinosaurs inhabited various ocean environments. MORE: Scientists discover 'legless, headless wonder' that predated the dinosaurs The Mississippi River occupies an ancient geologic structure called the Mississippi Embayment, which was inundated by the Western Interior Sea Way during the Cretaceous period. Mosasaur fossils have been found in the area before, but only in much smaller fragments, Starnes noted. This was the largest mosasaur fossil the researchers had ever encountered. Mosasaurs were fast and agile swimmers with jaws that contained 60 dagger-like teeth that helped them capture large prey, researchers said. Scientists believe mosasaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, according to Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality researchers. Evidence of 30-foot ancient sea monster found in Mississippi originally appeared on
19-05-2025
- Science
Evidence of 30-foot ancient sea monster found in Mississippi
Geologists working in Mississippi recently stumbled upon an incredible find: the fossil of an ancient marine apex predator. They uncovered a piece of vertebra they said likely belonged to a mosasaur, a lizard ancestor that lived in the Late Cretaceous period, according to James Starnes, research director for the surface geology and surface mapping divisions for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. On April 15, researchers were collecting rock, sediment and fossil samples just south of Starkville, Mississippi, Starnes said. Poking out from the sediment of a creek bed was the end an "unusually large" lumbar vertebra. After Starnes pointed it out, Jonathan Leard, the lead author of the MDEQ's geological map, pulled the vertebra out of the clay. "Both of us are standing there looking at each other with our jaws wide open because of the size," Starnes said. Starnes "immediately" knew they had found a mosasaur based on the shape of the vertebra, he said. The researchers estimated the specimen, determined to be Mosasaurus hoffmannii, was between 30 and 40 feet long when it died, but mosasaurs typically grew to be about 50 feet and weighed 20,000 pounds. "These animals, like other lizards, are indeterminate," Starnes said. "That means they just keep growing, with age, until they die." Due to its geological formations, the Mississippi region is known for its fossils, but this was especially rare, Starnes said. Shell fossils are common, as are much younger Ice Age fossils from land animals, such as mastodons and sloths. But mosasaurs have a "very different" vertebra shape than other animals. "This was distinctly not a mammal," Starnes said. "This was definitely a sea lizard." Mosasaurs, a diverse group of marine lizards, conquered the seas in the Late Cretaceous period, a time when dinosaurs inhabited various ocean environments. The Mississippi River occupies an ancient geologic structure called the Mississippi Embayment, which was inundated by the Western Interior Sea Way during the Cretaceous period. Mosasaur fossils have been found in the area before, but only in much smaller fragments, Starnes noted. This was the largest mosasaur fossil the researchers had ever encountered. Mosasaurs were fast and agile swimmers with jaws that contained 60 dagger-like teeth that helped them capture large prey, researchers said. Scientists believe mosasaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, according to Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality researchers.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Jackson City Council reviews solid waste plan
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The Jackson City Council held a Public Works Committee meeting to discuss the resolution to adopt the 2025 Solid Waste Management Plan. The city is required to develop a new plan every 20 years. The last plan was approved by the city and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) in 1996. Twenty-nine years have passed, which means the capital city is nine years overdue. The goal of Wednesday's meeting was to develop a comprehensive plan to ensure public health, environmental protection and service efficiency for the next 20 years. Jackson's Public Works representatives hope to secure state and federal grants in the process. Natchez church seeks donations to rebuild after storm 'That Solid Waste Management Plan helps us with garbage pickup. Understand not just picking it up from the residence, from commercial business, but what we're going to do with that garbage after we take the garbage where it's going to be located. All the things that has the management of that recycle material, as well as the rubbish, as well as the household garbage, how we're going to handle it. And it's very important because EPA and the state requires us to do that,' said Daniel Walker, senior environmental engineer with Cornerstone Engineering. The 2025 plan includes improving residential garbage collection services, tackling the overflower hotspots of illegal dumping and address illegal tire dumping. The plan calls for enhanced enforcement, including surveillance, community reporting and higher fines and penalties for illegal dumping violators. 'So illegal dumping, it's been one of those things that we've been fighting for quite some time, and we see it in all of our wards. In fact, I plan on bringing forward an ordinance to strengthen the penalties for illegal dumping. A lot of the perpetrators who dump illegally in our city don't even live here. They don't do business here,' said Councilman Brian Grizzell, Ward 4. The City Council voted 4-0 for the updated Solid Waste Management Plan, which now needs approval from MDEQ. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists identify dinosaur tooth found in Mississippi
Editor's Note: Video above shows 2025 Fossil Road Show JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Officials with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) said a fossil tooth found in the state was recently identified as belonging to a dinosaur. According to officials, MDEQ's State Geological Survey scientists helped the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science with an evening fossil program last month. Following a lecture, the public was invited to bring their fossil collections in to display and have their finds identified by a state scientist. Mississippi State researchers help unearth giant mosasaur fossil near campus One of the scientists worked with a collection of fossil teeth brought in by Jacob Tucker, a northeast Mississippi fossil collector. One tooth caught their attention. According to MDEQ, the tooth was found along an outcrop of the Late Cretaceous in age, Tombigbee Sand Formation in Monroe County on June 16, 2021, by Tucker and his friend, Jeremy Forrester. Scientists identified the tooth as belonging to a heavily-armored plant eating dinosaur from the family of ankylosaurian dinosaurs, called Nodosaurs. This dinosaur had thick rows of knobby armored plates with keratin sheaths covering their backs, called osteoderms, that provided protection from attack from large theropod dinosaurs. The fossil was donated and accessioned into the state's paleontological collections at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. It will be curated for future research by scientists on Mississippi's dinosaurs. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Columbian mammoth fossil found on Mississippi Coast
Video above shows mammoth tusk found in Madison County. HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – Fossil fragments of a Columbian mammoth were recently discovered on the Mississippi Coast. According to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), Cole Moody discovered the fragments while wading at low tide in Harrison County. Mammoth tusk discovered in Madison County Officials said Moody's discovery is the first record of mammoth for the Mississippi Gulf Coast region. They said the fossil gives State Survey geologists a much better understanding of the ice-age landscape now lost beneath the sea. MDEQ officials the fossil remains of the Columbian mammoth were buried in the Pleistocene meadow soil, now drowned by the Mississippi Sound. The fossils were then likely re-exhumed from the sea bed by strong storms and ocean currents. Cole's fossil Columbian mammoth tooth finds were confirmed and documented by MDEQ's State Survey scientists and reposited in the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science's paleontological collections for further study. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
