In Morocco, fossils have been discovered in phosphate deposits, vestiges of ancient seabeds, the analysis of which continues to reveal many secrets. In a study published on December 29, researchers from the British University of Bath announced that they had identified a new species of durophagous mosasaur, Carinodens acrodona kind of large marine reptile.
from our correspondent in Casablanca, François Hume-Ferkatadji
The Morocco is the world’s second largest producer of phosphate, of which it is full of deposits. But these extraction sites are also exceptional terrain for paleontologists, in particular for those who seek to know more about life on Earth 66 million years ago and even before, when the last dinosaurs disappeared. of the surface of the globe.
In the last decade, the open-cast mine of Sidi Chennane, 250 kilometers south of the capital, Rabat, provided numerous fossils of animal species which populated the seas in the Upper Cretaceous. The site is indeed teeming with fossils of fish or shark bones and scales.
Beyond marine reptiles, paleontologists also hope to find traces of dinosaurs in Moroccan phosphate basins. While scientists believe that Africa probably had many more species of dinosaurs than North America, discoveries there have, to this point, been fewer than across the Atlantic.
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