paleontology

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 05 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41561-026-01963-w Post-collisional calc-alkaline magmatism has originated from the mixing and hybridization of relaminated continental crust and mantle peridotite since the Archaean, according to numerical simulations of continental subduction and melting experiments.

Between 2.4 and 0.6 Gy ago, our planet underwent several episodes of global glaciations, including the “Snowball Earth” case that ended 635 My ago. Causes of this last Snowball event presumably included a decreased greenhouse gas concentration and high continental albedo, both associated with the passage of the super-continent Rodinia at equatorial latitudes. When large continental masses are in …

The Egersund dike system in Norway formed more than 600 million years ago, during the Ediacaran period. In new work, researchers drilled rock samples from the dike seen here to learn more about the history of Earth’s magnetic field. Credit: Yi Xue, CC BY 3.0

A dinosaur so massive, it left a mark on the road itself. But this colossal creature has a lot more to reveal than just its size.

Scientists have discovered a new species of small mammal that lived at the same time as dinosaurs, offering fresh clues about how early mammals survived one of the most devastating events in Earth’s history. The fossil belongs to a newly identified species called Cimolodon desosai, a rodent-like animal that lived about 75 million years ago […] The post Scientists discover 75-million-year-old mamm…

Find indicates high diversity of long-necked dinosaurs in southwestern China during Early Jurassic period

A new genus and species of massopodan sauropodomorph that lived during the Early Jurassic epoch has been identified from a partial skeleton unearthed in southwestern China. The post Early Sauropodomorph Dinosaur Unearthed in China appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

A newly discovered stegosaur skull from Spain is offering rare insight into the anatomy and evolution of one of Europe’s most iconic dinosaurs. A rare skull from Spain is giving scientists a clearer look at one of Europe’s most important armored dinosaurs and reshaping ideas about how stegosaurs spread and evolved. Stegosaurs were plant-eating dinosaurs [...]

This tiny dinosaur-era mammal may hold the secret to surviving Earth’s worst extinction. Mammals lived alongside dinosaurs for millions of years until a catastrophic event 66 million years ago wiped out about 75% of life on Earth. Even after this mass extinction, some species endured. Among the survivors were small, rodent-like mammals from the genus [...]

Have you ever wondered where your home would have been millions of years ago? A new online tool developed by an international team of Earth scientists can now give you that answer. Led by Professor Douwe van Hinsbergen from Utrecht University, the team has created a website called Paleolatitude.org. It allows anyone to type in […] The post Where on earth were you millions of years ago? appeared f…

A distorted dinosaur skull, once dismissed as unusable, became the focus of a detailed digital reconstruction that revealed new insights into early carnivorous dinosaurs. “You want to stick your finger in a dinosaur brain?” asked Simba Srivastava. In a fossil-filled lab at Virginia Tech, he held up a battered, cratered skull that most researchers might [...]

Beneath the surface of a 106-million-year-old rock layer, scientists uncovered footprints that don’t quite behave the way they should.

Spinosaurid fossil bought by Stuttgart institution in 1991 has been the subject of a long restitution campaign It is a 113-million-year-old bone of contention. After Stuttgart’s museum of natural history bought a fossilised dinosaur skull in 1991, researchers found it was the most complete spinosaurid skull known to date, belonging to a previously unknown genus of the huge meat-eating dinosaurs. …

The ichthyosaurs had some tremendous survival skills The post What Hurt This Jurassic Sea Monster? appeared first on Nautilus .

A set of neoazhdarchian pterosaur footprints discovered in South Korea is offering a rare glimpse into how some of the largest flying reptiles may have hunted on land. The post 106-Million-Year-Old Pterosaur Footprints Discovered in Korea appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

We may use terms like "grounded" and terra firma to mean stability and consistency but geology laughs at that notion. The next time you go on vacation, a new tool can show you how many places your vacation destination has been. Paleolatitude.org can do that, right down to the movements of small tectonic and ‘lost continents’ now called Greater Adria, the Tethys Himalayas or Argoland, which we kno…

Remarkably preserved fossils found in southern China offer a fascinating window into what life looked like at the end of the Cambrian explosion, with half of the species uncovered being new to science. The post A Treasure Trove of Cambrian Fossils Rewrites the Story of Early Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Scientists took a closer look at this strange 500-million-year-old fossil, and found something never seen before in its kind.

Deep in a dried-up riverbed in Brazil, scientists uncovered a bizarre prehistoric mystery—twisted jawbones from a strange, long-lost animal unlike anything seen before. Dating back 275 million years, this creature, named Tanyka amnicola, belonged to an ancient lineage that should have already faded away, making it a kind of “living fossil” of its time.

For decades, no one paid attention to the strange patterns covering this stone. Today, those footprints are at the center of a discovery that few saw coming.