Spotlight Northeast
5 May,2021 *17:57 IST* 2 MIN READ
Researchers have found the fossil bone fragments of 100 million-year-old sauropod dinosaurs. The fossil bones were found in the West Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya.
The researchers of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) have noted that this was the first record of sauropods of probable Titanosaurian origin discovered in the region. The findings were made during a current field tour by the researchers of GSI’s Paleontology division in the North-East.
Another day, another discovery in #Meghalaya!
100 million-year-old fossil bones of a sauropod dinosaur discovered in #WestKhasiHills district, making ours the only state in the North East & among 5 in the country with record of such species so far.@DrJitendraSingh @MDoNER_India https://t.co/Zh4GHUE63p— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) May 5, 2021
The bone fragments were collected from poorly sorted, purplish to greenish very coarse-grained arkosic sandstone interlaid with pebbly beds.
More than twenty-five disarticulated, mostly fragmentary bone specimens were recovered, which are of different sizes and occur as isolated specimens but some of them were found in close proximity to each other, the researchers said.
Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads relative to the rest of their body, and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. “Dinosaur bones from Meghalaya were reported by GSI in 2001 but they were too fragmentary and ill-preserved to understand its taxonomic identification,” said Arindam Roy, Senior Geologist, Palaeontology Division, GSI.
“Dinosaur bones from Meghalaya were reported by GSI in 2001 but they were too fragmentary and ill-preserved to understand its taxonomic identification,” said Arindam Roy, Senior Geologist, Palaeontology Division, GSI.
