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Dinosaur Cove
The Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia is a fossil-bearing site in the south-east of the continent where the Otway Ranges meet the sea to the west of Cape Otway, adjacent to Great Otway National Park (''map''). The inaccessible ocean-front cliffs include fossil-bearing strata of the Eumeralla Formation that date back to about 106 million years ago and has provided discoveries important in the research of the natural history of dinosaurs in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere as a whole. Geological time-line During the Early Cretaceous the location was a flood plain within a great rift valley that formed as Australia started to separate northward from Antarctica. Sand, mud and silt deposits covered and sometimes preserved the remains of dead animals and plants. As the rift valley sank, the deposits were overlaid by sediment, which turned to rock under pressure. In the last 30 million years the sediments have been uplifted to form the Otway Ranges and Strzelecki Ranges, bringi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antarctic Circle
The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of Earth. The region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic, and the zone immediately to the north is called the Southern Temperate Zone. South of the Antarctic Circle, the Sun is above the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year (and therefore visible at midnight) and the centre of the Sun (ignoring refraction) is below the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year (and therefore not visible at noon); this is also true within the equivalent polar circle in the Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic Circle. The position of the Antarctic Circle is not fixed and currently runs south of the Equator. This figure may be slightly inaccurate because it does not allow for the effects of astronomical nutation, which can be up to 10″. Its latitude depends on the Earth's axial tilt, which fluctuates within a margin of more than 2° over a 41,000-year period, due ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Rich
Thomas Rich (born c. 1940), generally known as Tom Rich, is an Australian palaeontologist. He is, as of 2019, Senior Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology at Museums Victoria. Education and career *He was a student of Professor Ruben Arthur Stirton. This pushed him to become aware of potential in Australia to make fundamental discoveries about mammalian evolution *He graduated in 1973 from Columbia University in New York City with a P.h.D. in Geology. Career and professional positions *Rich is a trained Vertebrate paleontologist at University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University. Publications *Three decades, 37 bones: the long hunt for Victorian Dinosaurs. ''Thomas H. Rich and Roger Benson'' Personal life Thomas H. Rich was born on May 30, 1941 in the United States. Rich is married to palaeontologist Patricia Arlene Vickers-Rich. Together the couple described the dinosaur genera ''Leaellynasaura'' and ''Timimus'', naming them after their daughter and son, Leaellyn an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinosaur Dreaming
Dinosaur Dreaming is a paleontological site situated near Inverloch, Victoria, Australia. Remains of primitive mammals from the Cretaceous Age were first uncovered there in 1997 by researchers from Museum Victoria and the Monash University Science Centre. The remains of early mammals, dinosaurs, and fossil bones of Cretaceous Age reptiles, birds, and fishes can be found at the Inverloch dig site. Australia's first dinosaur bone, the Cape Paterson Claw, was discovered near Inverloch in 1903 by William Hamilton Ferguson. The fossils at Inverloch date to the mid Cretaceous. See also * Dinosaur Cove * List of fossil sites This list of fossil sites is a worldwide list of localities known well for the presence of fossils. Some entries in this list are notable for a single, unique find, while others are notable for the large number of fossils found there. Many of t ... ''(with link directory)'' References External links Dinosaur Dreaming Web SiteMonash Science CentreMuseum V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscillation of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) between its limits to the north and south of the equator. Usually, the term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a seasonally changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase. The term is also sometimes used to describe locally heavy but short-term rains. The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the West African, Asia–Australian, the North American, and South American monsoons. The term was first used in English in British India and neighboring countries to refer to the big seasonal winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea in the southwest bringing heavy rainfall to the area. Etymology The etymology of the word monsoon is not wholl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ectotherm
An ectotherm (from the Greek () "outside" and () "heat") is an organism in which internal physiological sources of heat are of relatively small or of quite negligible importance in controlling body temperature.Davenport, John. Animal Life at Low Temperature. Publisher: Springer 1991. Such organisms (for example frogs) rely on environmental heat sources, which permit them to operate at very economical metabolic rates. Some of these animals live in environments where temperatures are practically constant, as is typical of regions of the abyssal ocean and hence can be regarded as homeothermic ectotherms. In contrast, in places where temperature varies so widely as to limit the physiological activities of other kinds of ectotherms, many species habitually seek out external sources of heat or shelter from heat; for example, many reptiles regulate their body temperature by basking in the sun, or seeking shade when necessary in addition to a whole host of other behavioral thermo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polar Dinosaurs In Australia
The South Polar region of the Cretaceous comprised the continent of East Gondwana–modern day Australia and Antarctica–a product of the break-up of Gondwana in the Cretaceous Period. The southern region, during this time, was much warmer than it is today, ranging from perhaps in the latest Cretaceous Maastrichtian in what is now southeastern Australia. This prevented permanent ice sheets from developing and fostered polar forests, which were largely dominated by conifers, cycads, and ferns, and relied on a temperate climate and heavy rainfall. Major fossil-bearing geological formations that record this area are: the Santa Marta and Sobral Formations of Seymour Island off the Antarctic Peninsula; the Snow Hill Island, Lopez de Bertodano, and the Hidden Lake Formations on James Ross Island also off the Antarctic Peninsula; and the Eumeralla and Wonthaggi Formations in Australia. The South Polar region housed many endemic species, including several relict forms that had gone e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oviraptor
''Oviraptor'' (; ) is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period. The first remains were collected from the Djadokhta Formation of Mongolia in 1923 during a paleontological expedition led by Roy Chapman Andrews, and in the following year the genus and type species ''Oviraptor philoceratops'' were named by Henry Fairfield Osborn. The genus name refers to the initial thought of egg-stealing habits, and the specific name was intended to reinforce this view indicating a preference over ceratopsian eggs. Despite the fact that numerous specimens have been referred to the genus, ''Oviraptor'' is only known from a single partial skeleton regarded as the holotype, as well as a nest of about fifteen eggs and several small fragments from a juvenile. ''Oviraptor'' was a rather small feathered oviraptorid, estimated at long with a weight between . It had a wide lower jaw with a skull that likely had a crest. Both upper and lower jaws were toothless ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caenagnathid
Caenagnathidae is a family of bird-like maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs from the Cretaceous of North America and Asia. They are a member of the Oviraptorosauria, and close relatives of the Oviraptoridae. Like other oviraptorosaurs, caenagnathids had specialized beaks, long necks, and short tails, and would have been covered in feathers. The relationships of caenagnathids were long a puzzle. The family was originally named by Raymond Martin Sternberg in 1940 as a family of flightless birds. The discovery of skeletons of the related oviraptorids revealed that they were in fact non-avian theropods, and the discovery of more complete caenagnathid remains revealed that ''Chirostenotes pergracilis'', originally named on the basis of a pair of hands, and ''Citipes elegans'', originally thought to be an ornithomimid, named from a foot, were caenagnathids as well. Anatomy Overall, the anatomy of the caenagnathids is similar to that of the closely related Oviraptoridae, but there are a n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coelurosaur
Coelurosauria (; from Greek, meaning "hollow tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs. Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, tyrannosaurs, ornithomimosaurs, and maniraptorans; Maniraptora includes birds, the only known dinosaur group alive today. Most feathered dinosaurs discovered so far have been coelurosaurs. Philip J. Currie had considered it likely and probable that all coelurosaurs were feathered. However, several skin impressions found for some members of this group show pebbly, scaly skin, indicating that feathers did not completely replace scales in all taxa. In the past, Coelurosauria was used to refer to all small theropods, but this classification has since been abolished. Anatomy Bodyplan The studying of anatomical traits in coelurosaurs indicates that the last common ancestor had evolved the ability to eat and digest plant matter, adapting to an omnivo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlascopcosaurus
''Atlascopcosaurus'' () is a genus of herbivorous basal iguanodont dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of the present Australia. Classification The type specimen, NMV P166409, was found in 1984 at the Dinosaur Cove East site at the coast of Victoria, in layers of the Eumeralla Formation dating from the early Cretaceous, Aptian-Albian. The holotype consists of a piece of the upper jaw, a partial maxilla with teeth, and referred specimens include teeth, another maxilla, and dentaries. Although the rest of the skeleton is unknown it can be inferred from closely related species that the genus represents a small bipedal herbivore. By extrapolation it has been estimated that it was about two to three metres (6.5–10 ft) long and weighed approximately 125 kg. The type species, ''Atlascopcosaurus loadsi'', was named and described by Tom Rich and Patricia Vickers-Rich in 1989. The generic name refers to the Atlas Copco Company who had provided equipment for the dig that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypsilophodont
Hypsilophodontidae (or Hypsilophodontia) is a traditionally used family of ornithopod dinosaurs, generally considered invalid today. It historically included many small bodied bipedal neornithischian taxa from around the world, and spanning from the Middle Jurassic until the Late Cretaceous. This inclusive status was supported by some phylogenetic analyses from the 1990s and mid 2000s, although there have also been many finding that the family is an unnatural grouping which should only include the type genus, ''Hypsilophodon'', with the other genera being within clades like Thescelosauridae and Elasmaria. A 2014 analysis by Norman recovered a grouping of ''Hypsilophodon'', Rhabdodontidae and ''Tenontosaurus'', which he referred to as Hypsilophodontia. All other analyses from around the same time have instead found these latter taxa to be within Iguanodontia. Linnaean usage Hypsilophodontidae was named originally in 1882 by Louis Dollo, as a family to include ''Hypsilophodon'' a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germany, and patented in 1867. It rapidly gained wide-scale use as a more robust alternative to gun powder, black powder. History Dynamite was invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel in the 1860s and was the first safely manageable explosive stronger than black powder. Alfred Nobel's father, Immanuel Nobel, was an industrialist, engineer, and inventor. He built bridges and buildings in Stockholm and founded Sweden's first rubber factory. His construction work inspired him to research new methods of blasting rock that were more effective than black powder. After some bad business deals in Sweden, in 1838 Immanuel moved Nobel family, his family to Saint Petersburg, where Alfred and his brothers were educated privately under Swedish and Russi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
