Blasting dinosaurs in Brussels: new μXRF and LA-ICP-MS setup to unravel the origin of fossil bonebeds

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High-resolution geochemical techniques have been introduced in the field of vertebrate palaeontology more than 15 years ago, but their applicability remains largely underexplored. In contrast to most modern and archaeological bone remains, pre-Holocene vertebrate bones are often enriched in rare earth elements (REE) linked to diagenetic processes, making them ideal candidates for studying fossilization conditions using micro-X-ray fluorescence (µXRF) and LA-ICP-MS. Here, we present a novel workflow (Fig. 1) to investigate fossil bone material using a combined approach of high-resolution (25 µm) µXRF mapping and LA-ICP-MS profiling, combining the Bruker M4 Tornado µXRF and the newly installed Teledyne Iridia laser ablation system equipped with an Agilent 8900 ICP-QQQ-MS Advanced Applications at AMGC-VUB. We focused on well-preserved dinosaur bone thick sections from (1) a large bonebed of the iconic horned dinosaur Triceratops from the Upper Cretaceous of Wyoming (USA) and (2) the famous Bernissart bonebed from the Lower Cretaceous of Belgium, containing 30 skeletons of the duck-billed dinosaur Iguanodon currently housed at the Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. 
The LA-ICP-MS set-up applied a fluence of 4 J/cm2, a repetition rate of 50 Hz, a spot size of 25 µm, and a scan speed of 50 µm/s in fixed dosage mode. The laser signal was optimized for low oxide production and Th/U ratio of ~1 using NIST612. Other certified reference materials include BHVO-1, GSE, BIR, and Durango Apatite, the latter for matrix-matched calibration to quantify Ca, Sc, Mn, Zn, Sr, Y, Ba, REEs, Hf, Pb, Th, and U. The LA-ICP-MS transects (from the outer cortical bone inwards) yielded rapidly declining concentration profiles for all REEs (Fig. 1) throughout the Triceratops bonebed, suggesting that the skeletal remains experienced rapid burial with minimal pore-fluid interactions in a river floodplain setting. Combined with well-preserved bone microtextures and local sedimentology, these REE profiles provide independent evidence for a mass mortality event of a group of animals. This hints towards complex social behavior in Triceratops, which has not been documented before. These data open many options to study in a rapid manner with limited damage a large number of fossil bone and teeth from museum collections to infer the paleobiology, habitat and fossilization processes of extinct vertebrates through time. 
Originele taal-2English
TitelGhent University – Faculty of Sciences – Department of Chemistry – Atomic and Mass Spectrometry (A&MS) research group
UitgeverijGhent University
Pagina's1-1
Aantal pagina's1
Volume1
Uitgave1
StatusPublished - 4 jul 2024
Evenement16th European Workshop on Laser Ablation (EWLA2024) - Ghent, Belgium
Duur: 2 jul 20245 jul 2024
https://ewla2024.ugent.be/

Conference

Conference16th European Workshop on Laser Ablation (EWLA2024)
Verkorte titelEWLA2024
Land/RegioBelgium
StadGhent
Periode2/07/245/07/24
Internet adres

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