A treasure map to search for past marine life
Fossils offer a glimpse into Earth's distant past. They provide insights into extinct animals and plants, as well as past ecosystems. However, the fossil record is incomplete: Fossilization is rare, and only a small fraction of Earth's organisms are preserved this way. In addition, geological strata from different eras must be accessible today for fossils to be found in them.
A treasure map for discovering new fossils of ancient marine life has been created by paleontologists Thomas A. Neubauer and Mathias Harzhauser. The researchers have identified areas where fossil data is currently lacking, particularly focusing on the Cenozoic Era, which began 66 million years ago. This period is less studied compared to the Paleozoic and Mesozoic Eras, which have been more extensively researched.
The study, published in Science Advances, utilized the Paleobiology Database to map the locations of all fossil finds of animals from shallow-water marine environments over the past 540 million years. The researchers then tracked historical trends in paleontological research to pinpoint areas with the greatest potential for new discoveries.
According to Neubauer, many regions of the Earth have yet to be explored, offering hope for valuable new finds. However, he also stresses the need for focused efforts on these unexplored areas due to the time-consuming and costly nature of fossil excavations. The analysis suggests that expanding our understanding of this period could be strategically achieved by prioritizing these under-explored regions and examining existing museum collections awaiting scientific analysis.
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