{"id":72576,"date":"2025-12-02T06:18:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T06:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/72576\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T06:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T06:18:09","slug":"utep-geologist-makes-discovery-of-dinosaur-fossils-in-the-el-paso-region-the-prospector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/72576\/","title":{"rendered":"UTEP geologist makes discovery of dinosaur fossils in the El Paso region \u2013 The Prospector"},"content":{"rendered":"

While mapping geological formations at the Indio Mountains Research Station, a natural laboratory owned by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), structural geologist and associate professor of earth, environmental and resource sciences Jason Ricketts, Ph.D., noticed something strange peeking out of the soil.<\/p>\n

There were fragments that weren\u2019t part of the landscape which were later identified as belonging to a Tenontosaurus, a dinosaur usually found in parts of Arizona, Colorado and Central Texas. The fossils had been buried for more than 115 million years and expanded the species\u2019 known range. It also marked one of the first fossilized dinosaur bones ever uncovered in the El Paso region.<\/p>\n

Ricketts said he was not even\u00a0 looking for fossils that day; in fact, paleontology wasn\u2019t on his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was out there as part of a separate project. We weren\u2019t thinking about fossils at all. I was mapping [geological formations] with a graduate student and as I walked, I saw something that didn\u2019t look like anything else. I stopped and looked at it, and recognized it as a fossil,\u201d Ricketts said.<\/p>\n

Ricketts, who specializes in structural geology (the study of how rocks break, deform and the record of tectonic history) was in the area as part of a U.S. Geological Survey project to map the region.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jason Ricketts, Ph.D., points to the area on his map where he discovered Tenontosaurus fossils while conducting fieldwork in the Indio Mountains in Hudspeth County, Texas. (Victoria Adler<\/a>)<\/p>\n

After collecting a few fragments and noting their location, curiosity drew Ricketts back a few weeks later, bringing his family along.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went out there with my kids, my wife [her] mother. We spent a weekend out there digging around and playing in the desert, finding more dino fossils,\u201d Ricketts said.<\/p>\n

Unsure of exactly what he\u2019d found, Ricketts reached out to Spencer Lucas, Ph.D., a paleontology curator at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. After analyzing the bones\u2019 shapes and measurements, Lucas confirmed they belonged to Tenontosaurus, a four-legged herbivore. The largest piece recovered was a femur, along with several intact vertebrae.<\/p>\n

Fossilized bones are rare in West Texas, where dry desert conditions make preservation difficult. Ricketts said this discovery was as much about timing and luck as it was about science.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor it [an animal] to be preserved it has to die and get buried quickly. If it\u2019s on the surface, something eats it or it decays. It takes very special circumstances to preserve them in the first place, and then even those rare ones that get preserved. It takes somebody just happening to find them as they erode out of the ground,\u201d Ricketts said.<\/p>\n

Ricketts explained that the bones were likely scattered after the dinosaur\u2019s death and carried by river currents before being buried in thick mud.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pieces of an incomplete right femur from the Tenontosaurus, are stored at UTEP\u2019s Biodiversity Collections. (Victoria Adler<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Today, the fossils are housed in UTEP\u2019s Biodiversity Collections, where students and researchers can study them. One UTEP undergraduate has already helped curate and label the fossils. Ricketts hopes future fieldwork may lead to more discoveries in the Indio Mountains region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s probably more out there,\u201d Ricketts said. \u201cIf we find more, maybe we can add to the collection [of\u00a0 fossils] and learn even more about the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Ricketts, the unexpected discovery served as a reminder of what makes fieldwork rewarding, and how often science advances through simple luck.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIf you\u2019re open to new discoveries and just making observations about the world around you, it\u2019s amazing what things you\u2019ll learn about the world,\u201d Ricketts said.<\/p>\n

The discovery of the Tenontosaurus fossils in West Texas identifies how much of the region\u2019s prehistoric history remains undiscovered just beneath the earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

Jewel Ocampo is a staff reporter and may be reached at\u202f[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. St<\/p>\n

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