A trip into prehistory…
In July 2005, 11 dinosaur enthusiasts were given the chance to go into the field themselves and look for dinosaur fossils. Guided by Pascal Godefroit, an internationally known palaeontologist, they went on a 3 week expedition to Russia, hunting for dinosaurs and exploring Russia’s cultural and natural treasures.
Read all about their adventures and discoveries in the journals of Eiblin and Christophe, ambassadors of this expedition!
Eiblin’s journal (Dutch) : click here
Christophe’s journal (French) : click here
Aim of the expedition
It is well known that the last dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, about 65 million years ago. Yet, the cause of their extinction remains uncertain. A hypothesis that is generally accepted says a giant meteorite impacted the earth, causing dense clouds of dust blocking the sun’s rays. As a consequence, the atmosphere cooled and photosynthesis became impossible, leading to the extinction of many plants and animals.
Yet, some doubt still exists about the time span of the dinosaurs’ extinction. Where dinosaurs already disappearing when the meteorite impacted? Or was the impact itself the main cause? Fossile sites of terrestrial vertebrates from this era are very rare, and most research is based upon fossils found west of the Rocky Mountains in North-America. Here, dinosaur populations show a low number of species, suggesting that the meteorite only administered the final blow.
Luckily, over the past 20 years, fossile sites from the end of the Cretaceous period have been found in the Amur region, along the banks of this famous river forming a natural boundary between Russia and China. The fossils found in this area are of great importance, as they present the opportunity to research the dinosaur species diversity in another part of the world and to form a less biased view of their biodiversity at the end of the Cretaceous. Our expedition to Blagoveschensk was part of the excavations in the Amur region, and the results may bring new insights into the disappearance of dinosaurs!
