A team of researchers led by Maureen O'Leary, professor of anatomical sciences at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, discovered hundreds of giant sea creatures in the Sahara Desert.
The full study report can be found in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, and is summarized by Phys.org.
The work proves that between 100 and 50 million years ago, the current Sahara Desert was the seabed. Scientists believe that then Africa was divided by a powerful sea channel with salt water. Its bottom eventually turned into a desert.
Evidence of this is the hundreds of fossils of ancient sea creatures found in the Sahara over the past 20 years. The new article is a comprehensive analysis of extinct species and contains information about their first reconstruction.
"The fossils found on expeditions indicate that this sea was home to some of the largest sea snakes and catfish that ever lived on the planet, as well as extinct fish that were giants compared to their modern-day relatives," says Professor O'Leary. - Remains of tropical invertebrates, crocodiles, early mammals and mangrove forests have also been found. The sea route has frequently varied in size and geography. We assume that this could have led to the emergence of 'islets of water' that stimulated gigantism."
The article presents the first reconstructions of the ancient relatives of elephants and large predators such as sharks, crocodiles and sea snakes.
By the way, the study will help to study the possible consequences of climate change on Earth.
Denis Peredelsky
Promotional video:
