Hadrosaurus fossils uncovered in Oman

A remarkable assemblage of dinosaur fossils was recently found in the Sultanate of Oman, reported BNA quoting Oman News Agency.

A team of French, Omani and Dutch researchers presented their discoveries in the open-access scientific journal PLoS ONE.

The bones represent the first evidence of Hadrosaurian dinosaurs from Arabia. The occurrence of these so-called ‘duck-billed dinosaurs’ in the region is surprising: “Hadrosaurs, according to the traditional understanding, were mainly limited to the northern continents: North America, Europe, Asia,” Eric Buffetaut, lead author of the study, says. “Their presence much further south, in this part of the world, was previously unknown.”

The fossils were found in the foothills of the Omani Mountains, which were a lush delta some 70 million years ago, when Hadrosaurs roamed the area. “Several elements of the hind leg were discovered, as well as vertebrae,” Mohammed al-Kindi, a geologist and co-author of the study, says.

The study is supported by the Geological Society of Oman and the Oman Botanic Garden.

Dinosaur remains had been found in the Sultanate before, also from the Al-Khoudh area near the capital Muscat.

“The rocks in which these bones are fossilised were deposited by a fast-flowing river,” paleontologist and co-author of the study Anne Schulp explains. “This means we hardly find complete bones, let alone complete skeletons. We have to piece back together the puzzle of the Omani dinosaurs from the tiniest, and often frustratingly damaged and beaten-up bone fragments.”