"Dozens of large soft-bodied tetrapods, thought to be “primitive amphibians,” have been found in a fossil graveyard in Wyoming. The press release says,
"Dozens of amphibians perished together on an ancient floodplain around 230 million years ago, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS One by Aaron M. Kufner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S., and colleagues."
Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming (Phys.org, 2 April 2025). How did dozens of large tetrapods die together? The press release tries to say they were somehow trapped by restricted waterways in a drought when suddenly calm water rose and buried them. That sounds like a highly unusual event.
"Fine-grained ancient soils and finely layered sediments indicate that
these fossils were buried in a floodplain setting. Unlike similar sites, the water was evidently very calm, since even very delicate parts of the skeletons are preserved intact, and the bones aren’t arranged in any pattern that would suggest strong currents."
Q: Why didn’t amphibians just float and rise to the surface then?
Q: And why were so many individuals crammed into the same area? Q: And how could delicate parts of skeletons endure 230 million years? If this were a seasonal event, one would think there would be millions of fossil bonebeds stacked on top of each other in the strata. Q: Why only one?
A new metoposaurid (Temnospondyli) bonebed from the lower Popo Agie Formation (Carnian, Triassic) and an assessment of skeletal sorting (Kufner et al., PLoS One, 2 April 2025).
Fossils of metoposaurid stereospondyls, thought to be primitive amphibians, are found on every continent. Portions of this paper indicate that the hypothesis that these creatures died in place in calm water is not certain. At least one of the skeletons still had dental plates intact presumably when buried with the gums undisturbed.
Clasts are pieces of rock embedded in a deposit from other locations. Finding “large clasts” within the deposit suggests a catastrophic, sudden mass burial event. Bivalve fossils were also found at the site, along with “abundant fragments of weathered petrified wood littering the surrounding area.”
The bonebed site, which they call Nobby Knob (NK), does not seem to fit the geological consensus view of a relatively calm lacustrine environment. They admit that whatever happened is “a mass mortality event of unknown cause.”
Our report coincided in time with one on Live Science: “Triassic amphibians the size of alligators perished in mass die-off in Wyoming, puzzling ‘bone bed’ reveals.”
Q: Dozens of alligator-sized amphibians buried together with bivalves and petrified wood?
A new metoposaurid (Temnospondyli) bonebed from the lower Popo Agie Formation (Carnian, Triassic) and an assessment of skeletal sorting (Kufner et al., PLoS One, 2 April 2025).
Fossils of metoposaurid stereospondyls, thought to be primitive amphibians, are found on every continent. Portions of this paper indicate that the hypothesis that these creatures died in place in calm water is not certain. At least one of the skeletons still had dental plates intact presumably when buried with the gums undisturbed.
"Considering the inferred seasonality during Camp Springs deposition, the specimen was likely a desiccated and fragmented
carcass. Desiccation or draping of the bone-bearing palatal integument would have allowed for the retention of the denticulate plates leading up to final deposition where these diminutive elements were ultimately preserved in place within the interpterygoid vacuity…. Along with our observations of matrix-supported clasts associated with EP, these data do not exclude the possibility of a debris flow-hosted bonebed. However, in the absence of a quarry map and other firsthand sedimentological and stratigraphic data, these observations remain inconclusive at this time."
Clasts are pieces of rock embedded in a deposit from other locations. Finding “large clasts” within the deposit suggests a catastrophic, sudden mass burial event. Bivalve fossils were also found at the site, along with “abundant fragments of weathered petrified wood littering the surrounding area.”
"Uniquely among metoposaurid bonebeds, the NK locality preserves articulated and disarticulated denticulate palatal plates. Denticulate plates were embedded in the soft tissue of the palate in life and have been reported from other metoposaurid assemblages but have not been found in articulation within the palate. Disarticulated palatal plates have only been found underneath skulls, but articulated plates have been found in skulls with the palate facing up."
The bonebed site, which they call Nobby Knob (NK), does not seem to fit the geological consensus view of a relatively calm lacustrine environment. They admit that whatever happened is “a mass mortality event of unknown cause.”
Our report coincided in time with one on Live Science: “Triassic amphibians the size of alligators perished in mass die-off in Wyoming, puzzling ‘bone bed’ reveals.”
Q: Dozens of alligator-sized amphibians buried together with bivalves and petrified wood?
Q: Soft tissue impressions preserved for 230 million years?
Q: How could that happen?
Creationists and flood geologists should study this site and provide more reasonable alternatives to the view that this was the result of ordinary seasonal processes."
CEH
