PUBLISHED : 8 Feb 2024 at 06:02
KHON KAEN: A new set of dinosaur fossils, estimated to be up to 110 million years old, has been found in Nam Phong district of this northeastern province. They are believed to belong to the sauropod and spinosaurid species.
According to the Department of Mineral Resources, a team led by Sasa-On Khansubha, a palaeontologist from the Sirindhorn Dinosaur Museum, and officers from the Mineral Resources Office Region 2 (Khon Kaen) conducted an initial survey on the fossil sites in tambon Muang Wan, which now have fencing around them to ensure villagers don’t damage the sites.
The initial survey started on Jan 31 after Chaowalit Boonchai, a villager, posted about one of the fossils on his Facebook account. He also notified the authorities.
Ms Sasa-On said the fossils, which date back at least 100 million to 110 million years, were discovered with a burrow trace on a fine sandstone layer of the Khok Kruat Formation, one of the stone formations that belonged to the Khorat stratigraphic group.
The fossils consist of the spine of a sauropod, a long-neck herbivore that lived during the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous era; and the teeth of a spinosaurid, a fish-eating dinosaur species that lived during the Cretaceous era.
The team also identified a fragment of the ribs of an unidentified creature during their survey, said Ms Sasa-On.
Ms Sasa-On said the Dinosaur Museum has collected the fossils for fundamental preservation while sending some to the Muang Wan Municipal Office to display at its in-house exhibition.
This discovery is considered a national treasure, as it not only indicates the dinosaurs’ living patterns but also ancient river flow formation.
As the sandstone was seen with potholes on the surface, it can be developed into a small geological site in the future, said Ms Sasa-On.