Latest news with #MississippiDepartmentofEnvironmentalQuality
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
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.
The Independent
30-04-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Giant ‘sea monster' fossil unearthed in Mississippi mud
The remains of a giant 'sea monster' that once dominated the oceans was unearthed by geologists on a riverbank in the Mississippi River, scientists have said. Geologists discovered a fossilised single vertebra of the giant sea lizard known as a mosasaur that lived during the late Cretaceous period, approximately between 82 and 66 million years ago. "This is a true, true sea monster," geologist James Starnes, from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality's Office of Geology, told local newspaper Hattiesburg American. 'This is about as big as mosasaurs get." Mosasaurs were apex predators, and at their largest, they could weigh up to 20,000 pounds (9,000 kilograms) and reach lengths of up to 50 feet (15 metres). "I immediately knew what it was, but was completely awestruck by its size," Mr Starnes told Live Science. "The feeling you get when you find a fossil, even as a professional, never gets old. But when you find something you have never seen before, the elation can be overwhelming." The bone of the marine reptile, discovered on April 15, is potentially one of the largest found in the state. "This is a big animal,' Starnes said. 'The maximum (weight) is about 20,000 pounds that this animal could have gotten. This is bigger than most dinosaurs walking around on land." The bone was discovered in an area that was once completely submerged underwater. In 2022, another giant species of mosasaur, Thalassotitan atrox, was discovered in Morocco. The giant marine lizard, described in the journal Cretaceous Research, grew up to 9m (30 ft) in length and is a distant relative of modern iguanas and monitor lizards. While some mosasaurs evolved to eat small prey, such as fish and squid, and others crushed ammonites and clams, scientists, including those from the University of Bath in the UK, suggest that the newly discovered one evolved to prey on all other marine reptiles. Mosasaurs disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous period, approximately 66 million years ago, during the K-Pg event, when around 75 percent of all species on the planet became extinct. While the exact cause of their extinction is not fully understood, it is believed to be related to the aftermath of a massive asteroid impact in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. When top predators, such as the mosasaurs, disappeared, it opened the way for whales and seals to become dominant in the oceans, the researchers said, and fish like swordfish and tuna also appeared.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Geologists accidentally found a monstrous mosasaur fossil in Mississippi mud
Mosasaurs were some of the most fearsome apex predators to ever stalk the Cretaceous era's oceans. And according to Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) geologist James Starnes, a recent vertebrae fossil find belonged to 'about as big' a mosasaur specimen as one could get. 'This is a true, true sea monster,' Starnes recently told the local news outlet Hattiesburg American. 'This [was] bigger than most dinosaurs walking around on land.' Multiple mosasaur species swam Earth's prehistoric waters as recently as 66 million years ago, but the over seven-inch-wide fossil found on April 15 came from Mosasaurus hoffmanii—by far one of the family's largest species. 'This is a big animal. The maximum [weight] is about 20,000 pounds,' explained Starnes. Although M. hoffmanii likely grew over 50-feet-long, Starnes and the MDEQ team estimates the vertebrae originated from a creature that was probably more like 30-feet-long. Still, that's pretty big. '[B]ig enough to keep most people out of the water if it was swimming around today,' added Mississippi Museum of Natural Science paleontology curator George Phillips. 'People,' however, luckily didn't enter the evolutionary picture until Homo sapiens arrived roughly 300,000 years ago. As for a mosasaur's contemporary prey—they rarely stood a chance against the ocean reptile. While previous theories likened the mosasaur's underwater maneuvers to present-day sea snakes, recent evidence indicates many of the predators featured large, crescent-shaped tailfin flukes similar to a shark. These would have allowed mosasaurs to quickly ambush their targets instead of chasing them over long distances. Any prey that couldn't escape were ensnared by their 60-or-so daggerlike teeth, including an extra set on the roofs of their mouths. Starnes and colleagues found their latest discovery by complete accident. The team was out in the field near Starkville's Mississippi State University to create a 3D map of local geologic layers when fellow geologist Jonathan Leard realized he misplaced a pile of ancient seashells he had collected. While searching for the missing shells, Starnes noticed a partially exposed bone in the muck. It didn't take long before it became clear this was something much larger than any seashell. That said, mosasaur didn't immediately come to mind. 'It was so big, we didn't think it was a mosasaur,' said Leard. 'It might be the biggest one ever collected in Mississippi.'
