Earth Sciences

Drilling into the Jurassic in New Jersey

One hour from New York City, where the suburbs of New Jersey give way to farms, a team of scientists are drilling for ancient rocks on the edge of a cornfield. The rocks hold clues about what the earth was like about 201 million years ago,during the great extinction that allowed dinosaurs to dominate. Listen… read more

By
Kim Martineau
August 17, 2012

One hour from New York City, where the suburbs of New Jersey give way to farms, a team of scientists are drilling for ancient rocks on the edge of a cornfield. The rocks hold clues about what the earth was like about 201 million years ago,during the great extinction that allowed dinosaurs to dominate. Listen to paleontologist Paul Olsen describe his drilling operation in Stockton, N.J. while colleagues Morgan Schaller, a geochemist at Rutgers University and Dennis Kent, a paleomagnetics expert at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, operate the drill.

MORE:

READ THE FULL SCIENTIFIC STORY

PICTURE GALLERY FROM THE COAST OF BRITAIN

INTERVIEW WITH PALEONTOLOGIST PAUL OLSEN

Tags
dinosaurs Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Triassic-Jurassic extinction