Over a Dozen More Dinosaur Soft Tissues | The Institute for Creation Research
Over a Dozen More Dinosaur Soft Tissues

A trio of scientists used sterile techniques to collect 17 dinosaur fossils. They searched deep inside the specimens for original, still-soft tissue remnants. What did they find?

Their Edmontosaurus (a species of hadrosaur) fossils came from where the Hell Creek Formation outcrops at the Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site in South Dakota. There, bits of hadrosaur bone poke through the sediment at a cut bank of the Grand River. The scientists published their finds in the journal Cretaceous Research.1

All told, 20 samples included bone, ossified (hardened) tendon fragments, and a lone tooth. The researchers collected samples from various depths, including a few that had already washed onto the surface. The team dissolved the hard mineral from their samples, then analyzed any soft tissues that remained. Their photographs showed bone cells called osteocytes, blood vessels, and connective tissues called fibrous matrix.

Light micrographs of Edmontosaurus tissues include fibrous matrix, osteocytes, and blood-vessel fragments. 
Image credit: Copyright © 2019 Ullmann, Pandya, and Nellermoe, Cretaceous Research. Used in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holders. 

Ten of 20 had abundant osteocytes, three had none, and the rest had either frequent or few. Six of the 20 had abundant blood-vessel remnants, and four of them had abundant fibrous matrix.

The study authors wrote, “Demineralization of Edmontosaurus annectens bones from the Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site revealed abundant microstructures morphologically consistent with vertebrate osteocytes, blood vessels, and fibrous/proteinaceous matrix.”1 Vertebrate’s bones, not bacteria, create soft features with the colors, sizes, and shapes the researchers found.

The technical report didn’t address the obvious challenge of describing such short-lived biological materials within a long-age context. Like other researchers in the field, these authors suggested that tissues somehow stayed intact inside these fossils, while sitting in or on the ground since their burial millions of years ago.

What process could pause tissue decay at all, let alone for so long a time? The scientists cited high levels of iron in the surrounding sediments that may have formed a shield from bacteria. But bacteria are just the first line of attack on dead flesh. Chemistry is the more relentless attacker—yet it went unaddressed.

Iron helped form rounded lumps of the mineral siderite, found in the surrounding rocks and sometimes stuck to bone surfaces. They study authors wrote, “It is the growth of these siderite concretions that may, perhaps, have been the most crucial step.” Did they run an experiment that demonstrates how iron or iron-based minerals like siderite suspend the well-known process of tissue decay? No. This kind of conclusion belongs in the realm of speculation or even circular reasoning, not science.2 After all, experiments with iron show that it accelerates instead of stalls the decay of organic molecules like those found in cells and blood vessels.3.4

One way to explain these newfound soft dinosaur tissues, along with the dozens of similar finds already published, is to replace millions of years with just thousands of years. This shortened world timeline would certainly endanger evolutionary theory, but it would fit both the facts of soft tissues in dinosaur bones and the Bible’s timeline.

References

  1. Ullmann, P. V., S. H. Pandya, and R. Nellermoe. 2019. Patterns of soft tissue and cellular preservation in relation to fossil bone tissue structure and overburden depth at the Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site, Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation, South Dakota, USA. Cretaceous Research. 99(2019): 1-13.
  2. The typical circular argument concludes that iron (or some other factor) must have preserved tissues for millions of years merely because the fossil is supposedly that old. Scientific conclusions should instead come from data, not from poor logic like this.
  3. Prousek, J. 2007. Fenton chemistry in biology and in medicine. Pure & Applied Chemistry. 79(12): 2325-2338.
  4. Winterbourn, C. C. 1995. Toxicity of iron and hydrogen peroxide: the Fenton reaction. Toxicology Letters. 82-83: 969-974.

Stage image: Hell Creek Formation

Dr. Brian Thomas is a Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in paleobiochemistry from the University of Liverpool.

Article posted on September 12, 2019.

The Latest
NEWS
Bumblebee University
Entomologists, biologists who study insects, continue to uncover amazing discoveries regarding the intellect of bees1,2 Now, biologists...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Struck: Risking It All for the Truth | Creation.Live Podcast:...
In this unique episode, host Trey talks with three key people involved in creating Struck—an upcoming miniseries that shows the special ties between...

NEWS
Giant Ants Buried in Receding Flood Rocks
Evolutionary scientists are baffled by a large ant fossil found in British Columbia, Canada. Known as Titanomyrma, this same ant had been found previously...

CREATION PODCAST
Why Do Animals Hibernate? | The Creation Podcast: Episode 45
The word hibernation is often used in reference to deep sleep, but what is it really? What kinds of creatures hibernate? How does this demonstrate the...

NEWS
Thalattosuchians—Extinct Crocodile Relatives?
The Thalattosuchia are an extinct group of marine crocodylomorphs (a group that includes the crocodiles) that allegedly transitioned from land to water...

NEWS
The Star-Nosed Mole
The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a fascinating semi-aquatic mammal found in eastern Canada and the United States. Moles (placental mammals)...

NEWS
The Hexagon: An Indication of Order and Design in Nature
In nature, noncoincidental patterns and geometry exist everywhere. But the number six appears to overshadow nature’s mathematical landscape. Whether...

NEWS
Neanderthal Crab Bake
The evolutionary science community said it perfectly in their headlines: “Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another 'nail in the coffin'...

CREATION PODCAST
Is There Any Truth to Dragon Legends? | The Creation Podcast:...
Dragons are considered by many to be made-up creatures in fairytales and legends, but our ancestors produced many descriptions and depictions of "dragons,"...

NEWS
Our Sun, Finely Tuned for Life on Earth
Aside from appreciating the splendor of the sun during a beautiful sunrise or sunset, many rarely consider how special, necessary, and finely tuned...