A T. rex Swimming with Sharks? | The Institute for Creation Research

A T. rex Swimming with Sharks?

The last time I checked, sharks didn’t swim on land. Most shark species inhabit saltwater oceans. Maybe tyrannosaurs swam some, but they didn’t dwell in oceans. Yet somehow sharks and tyrannosaurs died and were buried together. This curious combination calls for a big rethink on an issue that a new study just made bigger.

Somehow sharks and tyrannosaurs died and were buried together. Tweet: Somehow sharks and tyrannosaurs died and were buried together.

A T. rex Swimming with Sharks? https://www.icr.org/article/a-trex-swimming-with-sharks/

@ICRscience @icrbthomas

#Science #History

Despite common claims of how dinosaurs buried in the Hell Creek Formation lived in freshwater wetlands, paleontologists keep finding marine creature look-alikes, including clams and shark teeth, among the dinosaur fossils.1 If these sedimentary layers represent ancient living conditions, then why do they show such strange mixtures of sea and swampy life?

Publishing in the Journal of Paleontology, North Carolina State University (NC State) lecturer Terry Gates led a study of small shark teeth extracted from the Hell Creek. This fossil rich site in South Dakota once held the famously large and complete Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed “Sue,” held today at Chicago’s Field Museum.2

The Hell Creek shark teeth look like those of modern carpet sharks. “Orectolobiformes [carpet sharks] only dwell in the saltwater environments of the world’s oceans and seas,” according to sharksinfo.com.3 If carpet sharks live only in salt water, then why did the NC State news reporting this find instead say these teeth came from a “species of freshwater shark?”4

The answer relates to the assumption that the fossils at this site—and by extension all fossil forms buried in the vast Hell Creek Formation of the Western United States—represent an intact, ancient ecosystem. But no normal ecosystem mixes marine clams and sharks with freshwater turtles and amphibians, as the Hell Creek fossils show. The alternative to an ancient ecosystem is an ancient watery catastrophe. What’s wrong with that idea?

Cretaceous carpet shark teeth look very similar to today’s carpet shark teeth. If those ancient sharks lived in deep oceans like they do today, then one would need a catastrophe greater than any that occur today to sweep numerous ocean creatures onto ancient wetlands and mix the very different animals and plants that got suddenly buried in Hell Creek’s dirty sands.

References
1. Hartman, J. H. and J. I. Kirkland. 2002. Brackish and marine mollusks of the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota: Evidence for a persisting Cretaceous seaway. In The Hell Creek Formation and the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in the Northern Great Plains: An Integrated Continental Record of the End of the Cretaceous. Hartman, J. H., K. R. Johnson, and D. J. Nichols, eds. Special Paper of the Geological Society of America. 361: 271-296.
2. Gates, T. A. et al. New sharks and other chondrichthyans from the latest Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of North America. Journal of Paleontology. Published online before print, January 21, 2019.
3. Meyer, A. Sharks – Orectolobiformes. Fact Sheet.
4. Peake, T. Ancient Carpet Shark Discovered With ‘Spaceship-Shaped’ Teeth. NC State University News. Posted on news.ncsu.edu January 21, 2019, accessed January 28, 2019.

Stage image: Sue at the Field Museum in Chicago
Stage image credit: Wikipedia. Used
in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holders.

*Brian Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

 

 

 

The Latest
NEWS
Octopus and Fish Plan a Complex Coordinated Hunt
The octopus—an invertebrate—never fails to surprise researchers with its incredible abilities.1,2 The octopus was designed...

NEWS
A ''40 million year old'' 100% European Gnat
Finding well-preserved creatures in amber1 is a landfall for creation scientists, much like the numerous discoveries of soft dinosaur tissue...

CREATION PODCAST
The Undeniable Power of Narrative | The Creation Podcast: Episode...
Science is objective. At least, that’s what we’re told. But there are inherent issues with this statement that can cause...

NEWS
Paintbrush of the Creator
Who doesn’t enjoy the amazing color patterns of butterflies?1,2 Such beautiful designs and construction do not reflect blind naturalistic...

NEWS
November 2024 ICR Wallpaper
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV) ICR...

NEWS
Reformation Day, October 31
Five hundred years ago in Wittenberg, Germany, an unusual scholar changed the course of human history using pen and hammer. Dr. Martin Luther protested...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Owls
by Sydney Walters and Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover...

ACTS & FACTS
RNA Hoops: When Circular Reasoning Makes Sense
If the regulatory picture of the genome were not complicated enough, over the past decade scientists have discovered another level of Darwinian-defying...

ACTS & FACTS
Gunnison National Forest: Adaptable Aspens and Warped Rocks
Gunnison National Forest’s 1.67-millionplus acres showcase stunning views of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The Continental Divide forms its eastern...

ACTS & FACTS
Applying the Theory of Biological Design to Optimal Owl Flight
by Randy J. Guliuzza, P.E., M.D., and Aaron T. Guliuzza, P.E.*   If the greatest writers had been well-versed in fields of science,...