Fossilized dinosaur retains its shape

by Warren Nunn

There is great excitement over a wonderfully preserved fossil of an armoured, plant-eating dinosaur called a nodosaur which is now on display at a Canadian museum.

The fossil was found encased in a siderite concretion which occurs when minerals cause sediment to harden (like cement) around organic materials. The process has also been known to encase non-organic man-made items such as military ordnance (for example, World War II bombs and shells).

After the outer material was removed, what remained was the fossilized body of the nodosaur—from snout to hips—basically in its original 3-D shape. This is unusual because most fossils are flattened by the weight of sediment. The shape of its bone structures and scales are clearly discernible. As well, it has been suggested from melanin in the organic residues that the creature was a reddish brown color. It is estimated to have been 5.5 m (18 ft) long and weighed about 1,300 kg (2,860 lb). A museum staffer observed: “It’s basically a dinosaur mummy—it really is exceptional.”¹

Researchers also noted:

The carcass arrived at the seabed on its back and with sufficient force to impact and deform the immediately underlying sedimentary layers. Despite the trace fossils left by burrowing animals in the hosting sediments, implying at least a partially oxygenated environment, the specimen lacks any evidence of scavenging.²

No evidence of scavenging indicates rapid burial, consistent with the biblical Flood model which better explains why this and so many other creatures are found in similar states of preservation. As well, the nodosaur was a land-dwelling creature, so had to be transported to its watery grave.