Collision of prehistoric continents 'cooked' the bones of ancient amphibians, say researchers tcddublin
sites and preserves some of the oldest amphibians to live in terrestrial environments. These fossils are found in a coal seam in County Kilkenny.morphology has been altered so that now it is difficult to make out detail from the fossils. Until now, the cause of this alteration has baffled scientists, with explanations for this alteration usually thought to be due to acid dissolving the bones when the animals were first buried.
A team of scientists from Trinity College Dublin; University College Dublin; National University of Ireland, Galway; the University of Birmingham, and the Gemological Institute of America has used a combination of computed tomography to produce X-ray images of the fossil, and laser ablation to analyze the chemistry of the bones to investigate the causes of this alteration.
Dr. Aodhán Ó Gogáin, from Trinity's School of Natural Sciences, is the lead author of the study. He said,"Normally in fossil bone we see that the internal original structure is preserved. But when we looked at the X-ray images of fossils from Jarrow we see that no internal bone morphology has been preserved and that bones have been partially replaced by the surrounding coal."preserved in the bones. Dr.
Dr. Aodhán Ó Gogáin added,"We have also been able to radiometrically date the apatite, which shows it formed during a time when all the continents on Earth were coming together and colliding to form the supercontinent Pangaea. As these continents collided, they formed mountain belts with super-heated subterranean fluids flowing of them.
Another co-author, Trinity's Dr. Patrick Wyse Jackson, concluded,"The Jarrow assemblage is of major scientific importance and is a significant element of Ireland's geoheritage. It is great that finally the question of what altered the fossil bones of these animals has been resolved."
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