Ancient Ash Volcanoes Entombed Chinese Dinosaurs

The eruptions occurred across northern China from roughly 120 to 130 million years ago. In the study, the international team examined the ash encasing 14 well-preserved fossils from five bone beds, including the crow-size bird Confuciusornis and the parrot-faced dinosaur Psittacosaurus.

Confuciusornis

Ashes covering the fossils are fine-grained, covering charred bone, the researchers found, similar to pyroclastic ash seen in the massive 1883 eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa. The death poses of the creatures in the bone beds resemble those of other pyroclastic ash victims, with limbs extended. The bones have spiderweb cracks like those seen on the charred bones of Pompeii victims, according to the study.

  

A cast of a Psittacosaurus skeleton. Photo by The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

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