Amphibious Ichthysoaur discovered

Researchers at the University of California David recently discovered the first amphibious ichthysoaur fossil. This animal existed 250 million years ago, and there had never been a fossil seen of it before. It is one of the ancestors of marine reptiles, a link in their evolution to the sea. This ichthysoaur fossil has oddly large flippers for sea like movement on land. The length of the fossil is 1.5 meters long, and it is thought to be from the Triassic period. Its bones are also heavier than other ichthysoaur relatives discovered. This encourages the theory that these animals came from land before moving to the sea. Scientists say it is important also because this fossil is from four million years after the worst destruction of life on Earth. They believe that it indicates a time frame for theses animals to adapt and recover in different ways from the tragedy.





"First Amphibious Ichthyosaur Discovered, Filling Evolutionary Gap." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

Sulfate in Ancitent oceans

Scientists have recently discovered that modern day sulfur levels (in the ocean) are way higher than in ancient times. This is important because sulfur is regarded as one of the key components for life, one of the most important biological components. Without sulfur, life is not able to grow and evolve as rapidly, or effectively. This would explain why the prehistoric oceans and its marine life were so different from our modern day oceans/marine life. Scientists found that sulfur levels were measured at 200 micro molar in certain concentrations vital to marine life. Compared to today's readings of thousands higher of micro molar. The researchers found this information by taking the fingerprints (weird!) of rocks that date back to prehistoric times. These rocks resonate sulfur isotopes and with the proper technology, can indicate levels of sulfur from thousands of years ago. This is helpful for scientists to understand the history of our oceans and how they changed/ grew over the Earth's lifetime.

 



"Life in Earth’s Primordial Sea Was Starved for Sulfate." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.