Massive Find of Fossil Bits Stuns Diggers : Trove in Nova Scotia Largest Discovery in North America

More than 100,000 fossil bits from dinosaurs, reptiles and fish that lived 200 million years ago when modern animals evolved have been found in Nova Scotia, Canada, forming the largest fossil find in North America, announced scientists today who said they were shocked by the number of fossils.

The fossils, representing the crucial period in history when dinosaurs emerged to become masters of the Earth, were discovered on the shores of the Bay of Fundy north of the coast of Maine.

Also found were dinosaur footprints, including an unusual series the size of a penny made by a sparrow-sized dinosaur, the smallest dinosaur prints known anywhere, said the scientists and the National Geographic Society, which financed the excavation.

At Water’s Edge

The site of the fossil find was at the water’s edge on the north shore of the Bay of Fundy’s Minas Basin, about six miles east of rural Parrsboro in Nova Scotia. About 200 million years ago, the area was a valley where the landscape changed rapidly from desert to lake.

At the time, scientists believe, all the continents were together in one land mass.

Geologist Paul E. Olsen of Columbia University, who excavated the fossils this summer with biologist Neil H. Shubin of Harvard, said the creatures were of species that had survived a catastrophe that wiped out at least 43% of lake and land animals.

Size of Find a Shock

“It really did shock us,” Olsen said of the number of fossils. He added, however, “We just hit the tip of the iceberg. That’s quite clear.”

The catastrophe, which occurred 500,000 years before the age of the fossils, could have been an asteroid known to have hit Earth and created the huge Manicouagan crater 500 miles northwest of the fossil site.

The impact, occurring around the borderline of the Triassic and Jurassic eras, would have thrown enough dust and debris into the air to obscure sunlight, upsetting the ecological balance of a wide area, killing many plant and animal species and making way for development of modern species.

Asteroid Theory

Many scientists believe another asteroid or meteor collision may have been responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

The most significant find among the 100,000 bone fragments unearthed were 12 skulls and jaws of Tritheledonts, the reptiles closest to humans, the society said. Other skulls, teeth, jaws and bones belonged to dinosaurs, crocodiles, lizards, sharks and primitive fish.

Olsen and Shubin said the bones were found in a rock formation called the Newark Supergroup, stretching from Nova Scotia to North Carolina. They said this formation is considered fossil-rich, but has been ignored in favor of the U.S. Southwest, Africa and Asia.