Denver museum discovers nearly 70-million-year-old fossil under parking lot

A museum in Denver has found a fossil that is almost 70 million years old under its parking lot while running an unrelated drilling project.

"This may be the most unusual dinosaur discovery I have ever been a part of," said Patrick O’Connor, director of Earth & Space Sciences at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, in a statement.

In January, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science conducted a geothermal test drilling project to see if it was possible to switch from natural gas to geothermal energy, according to a press release published on the museum's website.

The discovery, a partial-bone fossil that was identified as a vertebra of a herbivorous dinosaur, is on display in the “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibition on the museum floor.

"At that time, the team took the opportunity to carry out a scientific coring research initiative to help researchers better understand the geology of the Denver Basin," the press release stated. "The coring investigation led to the unexpected discovery of a nearly [70 million-year-old] dinosaur fossil."

It is possible that the vertebra is part of a much bigger fossil that is over 700 feet below the museum, but the world may never know, said James Hagadorn, curator of geology at the museum, told USA TODAY. The discovery could also hint towards the possibility that even more fossils have been preserved in layers of earth beneath.

“In my 35 years at the Museum, we’ve never had an opportunity quite like this — to study the deep geologic layers beneath our feet with such precision," Bob Raynolds, alongtime Earth Sciences Research Associate, said in a statement. "That this fossil turned up here, in City Park, is nothing short of magical.”

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Where was the fossil located?

Ornithopod vertebra from the Denver Formation, from 763' of depth in the City Park core drilling in the parking lot at Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

The fossil was found 763 feet below the surface of the museum's parking lot near the city's largest park, City Park, which also contains the Denver Zoo.

It was discovered in a segment of the core that the museum drilled from the ground, said Hagadorn. The entire core was nearly a thousand feet tall, and created and contains segments of different layers of earth and minerals.

It "has been identified as the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within the city limits," according to the museum.

What did the fossil belong to?

A Thescelosaurus during the latest Cretaceous Period. These around 10-12 foot long two-legged animals roamed the tropical swamps, forests and floodplains where Denver now stands. Their vertebrae are similar to the one found in the rock core deep below the Museum.

The museum only states that the fossil likely belonged to a plant-eating dinosaur that walked on two legs. But, it looks very similar to one belonging to a Thescelosaurusfrom the latest Cretaceous Period.

Remains of the dinosaur have been found in Canada and the U.S., according to the Natural History Museum in London.

The dinosaur, which name means "wonderful lizard," would have been nearly as tall as the average man and been around 10-12 feet long, or 3.5 meters.

How old was the fossil?

Ornithopod vertebra from the Denver Formation, from 763 feet of depth in the City Park core drilling in the parking lot at Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

The bones were found in rock from the Late Cretaceous period, and are dated to be around 67.5 million years ago.

“This fossil comes from an era just before the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it offers a rare window into the ecosystem that once existed right beneath modern-day Denver," Hagadorn said in a statement.

It was a small ornithopod, which means a bipedal dinosaur with only three functional toes, according to Mirriam-Webster.

This story has been updated to add new information.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Denver museum dinosaur bone discovery: Fossil found under parking lot