Name: Riojasaurus (Rioja lizard). Phonetic: Re-o-jah-sore-us. Named By: Jose Fernando Bonaparte - 1967. Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Prosauropoda, Riojasauridae. Species: R. incertus (type). Diet: Herbivore. Size: About 10 meters long. Known locations: Argentina, La Rioja Province - Los Colorados Formation. Time period: Norian of the Triassic. Fossil representation: Several individuals. Riojasaurus was and […]
Posts Tagged ‘Russel T Sajeev’
Bardarbunga volcano sits on massive magma hot spot
October 26th, 2014 
Riffin Spectacular eruptions at Bárðarbunga volcano in central Iceland have been spewing lava continuously since Aug. 31. Massive amounts of erupting lava are connected to the destruction of supercontinents and dramatic changes in climate and ecosystems. New research from UC Davis and Aarhus University in Denmark shows that high mantle temperatures miles beneath Earth’s surface are […]
Dinosaur ecology found in fragile amber
October 22nd, 2014 Riffin Ryan McKellar’s research sounds like it was plucked from Jurassic Park: he studies pieces of amber found buried with dinosaur skeletons. But rather than re-creating dinosaurs, McKellar uses the tiny pieces of fossilized tree resin to study the world in which the now-extinct behemoths lived. New techniques for investigating very tiny pieces of fragile amber […]
Journey to the center of the Earth:Isotope Study
October 19th, 2014 Riffin A UC Santa Barbara geochemist studying Samoan volcanoes has found evidence of the planet’s early formation still trapped inside the Earth. Known as hotspots, volcanic island chains such as Samoa can ancient primordial signatures from the early solar system that have somehow survived billions of years. Matthew Jackson, an associate professor in UCSB’s Department of […]
Mysterious Midcontinent Rift is a geological hybrid
October 17th, 2014 Riffin An international team of geologists has a new explanation for how the Midwest’s biggest geological feature — an ancient and giant 2,000-mile-long underground crack that starts in Lake Superior and runs south to Oklahoma and to Alabama — evolved. Scientists from Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the University of Gottingen in […]
Microfossils reveal warm oceans had less oxygen
October 16th, 2014 Riffin Researchers in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences are pairing chemical analyses with micropaleontology — the study of tiny fossilized organisms — to better understand how global marine life was affected by a rapid warming event more than 55 million years ago. Their findings are the subject of an article in the journal Paleoceanography. […]
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Tags: Microfossils, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society 
No Comments »Earliest-known lamprey larva fossils discovered
October 15th, 2014 Riffin Few people devote time to pondering the ancient origins of the eel-like lamprey, yet the evolutionary saga of the bloodsucker holds essential clues to the biological roots of humanity. Today, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a description of fossilized lamprey larvae that date back to the Lower Cretaceous — at least […]
Physics determined ammonite shell shape
October 11th, 2014 Riffin Ammonites are a group of extinct cephalopod mollusks with ribbed spiral shells. They are exceptionally diverse and well known to fossil lovers. Régis Chirat, researcher at the Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planètes et Environnement (CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1/ENS de Lyon), and two colleagues from the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford […]
How dinosaur arms turned into bird wings
October 7th, 2014 Riffin Although we now appreciate that birds evolved from a branch of the dinosaur family tree, a crucial adaptation for flight has continued to puzzle evolutionary biologists. During the millions of years that elapsed, wrists went from straight to bent and hyperflexible, allowing birds to fold their wings neatly against their bodies when not flying. How […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: bird wings, dinosaur arms, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Fossil of ancient multicellular life sets evolutionary timeline back 60 million years
October 4th, 2014 Riffin A Virginia Tech geobiologist with collaborators from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found evidence in the fossil record that complex multicellularity appeared in living things about 600 million years ago — nearly 60 million years before skeletal animals appeared during a huge growth spurt of new life on Earth known as the Cambrian Explosion. […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: 60 million years, life, multicellular, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, timeline, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »
