How were dinosaur fossils discovered in Chongqing?

1. Existing dinosaur fossil group in Chongqing

On the morning of June 28, Chongqing held a press conference on the results of the excavation of dinosaur fossils in Pu'an Township, Yunyang County. The press conference stated that the dinosaur fossil group discovered this time is large in scale, spans the early, middle and late Jurassic in geological time, and has many types of fossils. Currently, the basic sauropods, sauropods, theropods, ornithopods, and Fossils of the five major categories of dinosaurs, Stegosaurus, have formed a 150-meter-long "dinosaur fossil wall".

It is understood that the dinosaur fossils were discovered in Laojun Village, Pu'an Township, Yunyang County. The survey results show that the exposed length of the core area of ??dinosaur fossils reaches 550 meters. Through excavation work, a "dinosaur fossil wall" with a length of 150 meters, a thickness of 2 meters and a height of 8 meters has been formed. The wall area is 1155 square meters and contains 17 Fossil-rich area. According to detection, there are still a large number of dinosaur fossils under the "dinosaur fossil wall", buried at a depth of at least 20 meters.

Xu Xing, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the Yunyang Pu'an dinosaur lived during a critical period of dinosaur evolution, and the research is of great significance. The Ziliujing Formation of Pu'an Dinosaur Fossil Area 4 in Yunyang contains relatively abundant dinosaur and plesiosaur fossils, which are likely to fill the gap in the spatiotemporal distribution of dinosaurs from the late Early Jurassic to the Middle Jurassic in the world.

Yunyang County Magistrate Qin Changde said that Yunyang will plan to build a dinosaur world based on the burial, distribution and resource environment characteristics of dinosaur fossils, using the undulating mountains and Modao River waters in the fossil reserve. Experience corridor.

2. A number of high-tech means assist archaeological excavation

It is understood that the excavation of paleontological fossils in Pu’an Township, Yunyang County has been approved by the Ministry of Land and Resources and is listed as a land and resources The ministry’s demonstration project is the first paleontological fossil excavation project in Chongqing that has been officially approved by a national ministry.

The excavation work mainly includes fossil cap layer stripping and discarding, fossil excavation, fossil exploration well exploration, fossil transportation, fossil preservation, three-dimensional laser scanning, drone aerial survey, etc. In order to better record the original burial conditions of fossils, the excavation project also constructed an original three-dimensional scene of the paleontological fossil excavation site to realize information management and display functions. At the same time, advanced technologies such as geophysical testing, three-dimensional laser scanning, and drone oblique photography have also been innovatively applied to paleontological excavations.

In May this year, the Chongqing Municipal Land and Housing Administration Bureau approved the establishment of Chongqing Yunyang Pu’an Dinosaur Municipal Geopark, with a planned protection area of ??91.3 square kilometers. In order to better protect and rationally utilize dinosaur fossil resources, the Chongqing Municipal Land and Housing Administration Bureau will work with the Yunyang County Government to build the Pu'an Dinosaur Fossil Original Site Museum, a scientific research and education base, and build a fossil village to apply for national key protection of paleontology. Focus on fossil production areas and strive to build a national geological park.