US EditionNewly Dated 85-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Eggs Could Improve Understanding of Cretaceous Climate
Scientists used carbonate uranium-lead dating on eggshells, providing the first direct age of 85 million years and insights into Late Cretaceous climate effects on dinosaurs.
- Researchers in China dated fossilized dinosaur eggs found at Qinglongshan in the Yunyang Basin to roughly 85 million years ago using carbonate uranium-lead dating.
- The team applied this new direct dating method to resolve long-standing uncertainties about egg ages, as traditional dating used indirect methods relying on surrounding materials.
- Their analysis focused on two eggshell fragments from one egg in a cluster of 28, with results consistent with the geological age of surrounding Late Cretaceous rocks amid global cooling.
- Dr. Bi Zhao suggested that P. tumiaolingensis could indicate a lineage of egg-laying dinosaurs that did not survive environmental cooling, reflecting significant consequences for understanding dinosaur adaptation and extinction during the Late Cretaceous.
- Published in 2025 in Frontiers in Earth Science, this study establishes precise dating for Qinglongshan fossils for the first time, offering new insights that could transform current perspectives on dinosaur evolution and past climate dynamics.
12 Articles
12 Articles
These dinosaur eggs survived 85 million years. What they reveal is wild
Dating dinosaur eggs has always been tricky because traditional methods rely on surrounding rocks or minerals that may have shifted over time. Now, for the first time, scientists have directly dated dinosaur eggs by firing lasers at tiny eggshell fragments. The technique revealed that fossils in central China are about 85 million years old, placing them in the late Cretaceous period. This breakthrough not only sharpens our timeline of dinosaur h…
Newly dated 85-million-year-old dinosaur eggs could improve understanding of Cretaceous climate
In the Cretaceous period, Earth was plagued by widespread volcanic activity, oceanic oxygen depletion events, and mass extinctions. Fossils from that era remain and continue to give scientists clues as to what the climate may have looked like in different regions.
Dinosaur egg dated directly for the first time
Laser method could help to pinpoint the age of many fossils, but some palaeontologists say further research is needed to verify the technique. Laser method could help to pinpoint the age of many fossils, but some palaeontologists say further research is needed to verify the technique.
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