Scientists Found an Ancient Shark Graveyard in the Egyptian Desert
The 14 teeth include five extinct species, and researchers say some were never before documented in Africa.
6 Articles
6 Articles
The sands of the Egyptian desert have been dry for thousands of years. But, although it is hard to imagine now, much of that desert was once submerged under a sea that covered much of the northern coast of the African continent. Now, on the Abu-Tartur Plateau, where the bed of a now-long-extinct sea once stood, paleontologists have found shark teeth, reports ScienceAlert.
Scientists Found an Ancient Shark Graveyard in the Egyptian Desert
There was once a point when even Earth’s most notoriously dry spots were submerged beneath the sea. Going all the way back to the Cretaceous period, Egypt, the land we all commonly associate with blistering-hot desert sands, was once teeming with oceanic life, including ancient sharks. Publishing their findings in Cretaceous Research, a team of paleontologists found 14 shark teeth in Egypt’s Abu-Tartur Plateau. Altogether, it adds five new shark…
Researchers Find Shark Graveyard—in the Desert
In a stretch of Egyptian desert that today feels anything but aquatic, scientists say they've found evidence of a bustling ancient sea—in the form of a shark "graveyard." Between 2020 and 2022, researchers working on the Abu-Tartur Plateau in the Western Desert uncovered 16 fossilized teeth from seven shark...
The Abu-Tartur plateau was concealing a 100 million-year-old secret. Researchers have recently exhumed the teeth of five extinct species of squales. This discovery proves that a lush tropical sea once covered North Africa. A true marine paradise fed by extreme nourishing currents.
Researchers at Cairo University have found fossilized remains of at least seven different shark species during excavations on the Abu-Tartur Plateau in Egypt.
Today, the Abu Tartur Plateau is located in the Egyptian desert. In its Cretaceous Phosphate Layers, researchers have discovered 14 other shark teeth representing five species previously unknown there. Together with earlier finds, they document at least seven shark species and draw the picture of a productive, but over a long period of time mixed marine ecosystem. Giza (Egypt). Around 75 million years ago, the southwest of Egypt looked completel…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
