A Jurassic Texas First

April 3, 2024

A team led by scientists at the Jackson School of Geosciences has discovered the first known Jurassic vertebrate fossils in Texas.

The bone fragments are from a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile that would have swum in a shallow sea that covered what is now northeastern Mexico and far western Texas about 150 million years ago.

Because of its geologic history, Texas has very few Jurassic aged-rocks and fossils. Before the discovery, the only known Texas Jurassic fossils were of marine invertebrates, such as ammonites and snails.

The bones were discovered in the Malone Mountains of West Texas during two fossil hunting missions led by Steve May, a visiting researcher at the Jackson School’s Museum of Earth History. May said that the new fossil finds serve as solid proof that there are Jurassic bones in Texas.

“There’s more to be discovered that can tell us the story of what this part of Texas was like,” May said.

The discovery was published in Rocky Mountain Geology. The team found several other specimens from the ancient shallow marine environment, such as petrified driftwood filled with burrows from marine worms and the shells of clams, snails and ammonites. The researchers also found a range of plant fossils, including a pinecone, and wood with possible growth rings.