Earth Sciences Unit: Investigating Saskatchewan's Ancient Inland Sea
Research on a series of recent fossil discoveries is increasing our understanding of life in the shallow continental sea that covered Saskatchewan during the last 30 million years of the Cretaceous Period (95-65 million years ago). Mr. Tim Tokaryk, together with colleagues at the Canadian Museum of Nature, the Royal Tyrrell Museum and other institutions, has been studying the birds, sharks, bony fish, crocodiles and other approximately 90-million-year-old fossils from the Carrot River area northeast of Saskatoon.
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Perhaps the most spectacular find from the Carrot River quarry is "Big Bert", the world's most complete Terminonaris crocodile. This is also the only one of its genus found in Canada. This nasty predator was 7.6 m long; its skull alone was more that 1 m long. The skeleton bore evidence of having been scavenged by other animals after death; nevertheless, the skeleton is very well preserved. Current research will greatly increase our understanding of this extinct type of crocodile. |
Saskatchewan has the most and best specimens of marine reptiles in Canada, but we still know almost nothing about their classification, their life histories, or their environment. This is about to change. Researchers at the University of Calgary and the Royal Tyrrell Museum will soon begin a study of Saskatchewan plesiosaurs, including skeletons collected from Ponteix and Herschel. Research on a 73-million-year-old tylosaurine mosasaur excavated from the shore of Lake Diefenbaker in 1995, the most northern record of this type of marine reptile, may also begin in the near future.
For further information contact the Curator of Earth Sciences.
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