An action thriller by Jock Miller


Fossil fuel has an ageless affinity with dinosaurs. To create oil, dinosaurs died.


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The perfect energy storm is sweeping over the United States: Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown has paralyzed nuclear expansion globally, BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill has stalled deep water drilling, Arab oil countries are in turmoil causing doubt about access to future oil, the intensity of hurricanes hitting the Gulf’s oil rigs and refineries has intensified due to global warming, and the nation’s Strategic Oil Supply is riding on empty.

As the energy storm intensifies, the nation’s access to Arab oil, once supplying over sixty percent of our fossil fuel, is being threatened causing people to panic for lack of gas at the pumps, stranding cars across the country and inciting riots.

The U.S. Military is forced to cut back air, land, and sea operations sucking up 58% of every barrel of oil to protect the nation; U.S. commercial airlines are forced to limit flights for lack of jet fuel; and businesses are challenged to power up their factories, and offices as the U.S. Department of Energy desperately tries to provide a balance of electric power from the network of aged power plants and transmission lines that power up the nation.

The United States must find new sources of domestic fossil fuel urgently or face an energy crisis that will plunge the nation into a deep depression worse than 1929.

The energy storm is very real and happening this very moment. But, at the last moment of desperation, the United States discovers the world’s largest fossil fuel deposit found in a remote inaccessible mountain range within Alaska’s Noatak National Preserve surrounding six and a half million acres.

Preventing access to the oil is a colony of living fossil dinosaurs that will protect its territory to the death.

Nobody gets out alive; nobody can identify the predator--until Dr. Kimberly Fulton, Curator of Paleontology at New York’s Museum of Natural History, is flown into the inaccessible area by Scott Chandler, the Marine veteran helicopter pilot who’s the Park’s Manager of Wildlife. All hell breaks loose when Fulton’s teenage son and his girlfriend vanish into the Park.

Will the nation’s military be paralyzed for lack of mobility fuel, and will people across America run out of gas and be stranded, or will the U.S. Military succeed in penetrating this remote mountain range in northwestern Alaska to restore fossil fuel supplies in time to save the nation from the worst energy driven catastrophe in recorded history?

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Brachylophosaurus: The Elvis of Dinosaurs










By Jennifer Viegas

Brachylophosaurus may be its official name, but many affectionately know this relatively "new" dinosaur as "Elvis," due to its unusual head crest that resembles the famous rock 'n roll singer’s hair. Fossil collector and paleontologist Charles Sternberg first the dinosaur described it in 1953. No other specimens existed until noted dinosaur expert Jack Horner identified another Brachylophosaurus skeleton from Montana’s Judith River Formation during the 1980s.

Head Crest

The solid boned head crest extended from the snout, laid over the top of the dinosaur’s flat head and then finished with a stylish spike at the back. Aside from the Elvis hair comparison, it also looked a bit like a modern bike racing helmet, and perhaps served a similar head-protecting function. It’s possible that Brachylophosaurus engaged in head to head pushing contests, similar to how male animals with antlers or horns today will often fight for leadership status or choice females during the mating season.

Teeth and Diet

Brachylophosaurus was a duck-billed dinosaur, but its upper beak was larger and broader than that of most hadrosaurs. Both its upper and lower beaks encased jaws set with hundreds of teeth. Their position and the jaw structure suggest Brachylophosaurus chewed plant material from side to side, as cows and horses do today. Analysis of the preserved stomach contents of one individual reveal it ate ferns, conifers, magnolias and the pollen of more than 40 different plants.

Cancer

Paleontologists in 2003 were surprised to discover the dinosaur suffered from cancer. They found at least four forms of the deadly disease in numerous Brachylophosaurus skeletons. Cancer appears to have been rare in other dinosaurs, or perhaps even limited to this species. Experts aren’t sure why, but they suspect genetic or environmental factors were to blame.

Guinness World Record Holder

Since its discovery in the early 1950s, a number of extremely well preserved Brachylophosaurus remains have been excavated. In 2003, a specimen, named Leonardo, was honored by the Guinness Book of Records as being "the best preserved dinosaur remains in the world." The certificate went on to say, "around 90 percent of the body is covered with fossilized soft tissue." Paleontologists value such dinosaur "mummies," since they provide rare tissue samples in addition to bone. http://dsc.discovery.com



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