New Jersey: Goobta qadiimiga ah ee daaha ka qaadaysa maalintii ay dinosaaradu dhinteen
Meeshii dhul-qodis ahayd oo u dhow dukaamo ku yaal Mantua Township, New Jersey, waxay noqotay Edelman Fossil Park & Museum oo dhowaan furmay dadweynaha. Ken Lacovara ayaa markii ugu horreysay booqday qodistaas 2003dii, taasoo ku taal gadaal Lowe's iyo Chick-fil-A.
Lacovara iyo Daahfurka Dreadnoughtus
Ken Lacovara wuxuu 2004dii helay Dreadnoughtus, nooc dinosaar ah oo cusub. Noocan ayaa markii dambe lagu soo bandhigay filimka weyn ee Jurassic World Dominion. Lacovara wuxuu markii ugu horreysay booqday qodista ku taal Mantua Township 2003dii.
Qodistaas waxay ku taal gadaal Lowe's iyo Chick-fil-A, wuxuuna Lacovara markii dambe ogaaday inay tahay goob cilmi-baaris oo caalami ah. Goobtii ayaa isu rogtay Edelman Fossil Park & Museum oo dhowaan furmay dadweynaha.
Daahiraha Qaraxii Asteroid-ka
Kooxda Lacovara waxay soo saareen in ka badan 100,000 oo fossils ah oo matalaya in ka badan 100 nooc. Waxay sidoo kale heleen iridium, bir laga helo asteroids. Qaraxii asteroid-ku wuxuu dhacay 66 milyan sano ka hor, wuxuuna kiciyay qaraxii 5-aad ee waaweyn.
Markabku wuxuu ku dhacay u dhow Yucatan Peninsula, abaalmarinaya dhulgariir 10.3 ah oo maray Waqooyiga Ameerika daqiiqado gudahood, oo ay ku xigto shoog 15 daqiiqo ka dib. Lacovara wuxuu yiri heerkulku wuxuu kor u kacay 'meel u dhexeysa foorno rooti iyo foorno pizza'.
Dhamaadkii Dinosaarada iyo Fariinta Maanta
Dinosaaradu waxay xukumeen Dhulka 165 milyan sano, laakiin saacad gudahood ka dib qaraxii, si shaqo ahaan u dabar go'een. Xayawaanada yaryar sida awoowayaashay bini'aadamku waxay u badan tahay inay dhul qodeen si ay kulaylka uga badbaadaan. Tsunami 130-foot ah ayaa ku dhufay xeebaha Ameerika.
Lacovara wuxuu leeyahay: 'So this makes this the best window on the planet at that pivotal calamitous moment that wiped out the dinosaurs and really made the modern world as we know it'. Matoorka goobtu waa 'Discover the past, protect the future'.
Paleontologist Ken Lacovara discovered the 66-million-year-old sediment layer behind a New Jersey strip mall, uncovering over 100,000 fossils and iridium that tell the story of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs within an hour.
A Quarry Behind a Strip Mall
Ken Lacovara first visited the quarry in Mantua Township, New Jersey, in 2003, expecting only a convenient spot for university students to practice fossil digging. The site sits just behind a Lowe's and a Chick-fil-A, far from the remote excavation sites in Egypt and Patagonia where he had spent his career.
What Lacovara found instead was extraordinary. He realized the sediment layer running across the quarry held the most significant record of the days and hours following the asteroid impact 66 million years ago, which triggered the fifth mass extinction. He later said, 'The more I saw, the more I learned, the more I realized that now if I lived in Australia or Cape Town, I'd be coming here to do my research.'
The Hour That Ended an Era
Lacovara and his team have recovered over 100,000 fossils representing more than 100 species, including the Dreadnoughtus, a new dinosaur species that later appeared in the film Jurassic World Dominion. They also unearthed iridium, a metal found in asteroids, confirming the cosmic origin of the catastrophe.
When the asteroid struck near the Yucatan Peninsula, a 10.3 magnitude earthquake crossed North America within minutes, followed by a second shock roughly 15 minutes later. Within the hour, global temperatures surged to 'somewhere between toaster oven and pizza oven,' Lacovara says. Dinosaurs, having ruled Earth for 165 million years, were functionally extinct within that same hour, while smaller animals likely burrowed underground to escape the heat.
A Museum to Protect the Future
The quarry has been transformed into the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum, which recently opened to the public. Lacovara partnered with Rowan University to fundraise for the project, creating a unique destination that combines a world-class museum with a world-class excavation site. The park's motto reads, 'Discover the past, protect the future.'
Lacovara emphasizes that the extinction event is not just a story for children but a warning for adults. He notes that all five previous mass extinctions were the result of climate crises, and if the asteroid is the 'asteroid of our age,' humanity does not have to be its victim. 'We have had five previous mass extinctions, and every one of those, we know now from geology and paleontology, was the result of a climate crisis. If you think about it in terms of that asteroid, well, we are now the asteroid of our age. But we don't have to be, and it's not too late to turn the tide.' (claim-5, claim
Ilaha iyo xuquuqda sawirka
Sawir: NPR News Xigasho
