Valuable geological samples collected in Vietnam

11/07/2022

Within the framework of the component project "Building a Vietnamese Paleontological Sample Collection" code BSTMV28/15-18, in 2019, geologists of the Vietnam Museum of Nature collaborating with experts from the University of Kumamoto, Japan, collected a specimen at a location near Tri An reservoir hydroelectric dam, Vinh Cuu district, Dong Nai province (coordinates, 11°06'16"N; 106°58'59"E). Through initial research, experts determined that the specimen could be fossilized bones of Jurassic age vertebrates (fossil bones of marine reptiles).

Specimens exposed on the cliffs are weathered gray siltstone with yellow-brown patches interspersed with layers of dark gray to greenish gray siltstone with thin to medium layering of the Dray Linh Formation (J1 dl). The exposed part of the cylindrical specimen is about 10 cm long, 1.8-2.0 cm in diameter at both ends, broken in half (suspected bone structure).

Scientists collected many fossils of ammonoidea and bivalve in the siltstone and claystone layers of the upper and lower parts of the siltstone containing the above specimen, some initial observations are as follows:

- The morphological features and internal structure of the specimen indicate that this may be part of a fossilized Vertebrate skeleton. (The fossils were found to be well preserved, but only one bone specimen with limited morphological characteristics makes it difficult to identify.)

- This is the first time in Vietnam that this precious specimen has been collected (probably the fossil bones of Jurassic age vertebrates in the early Jurassic marine sediment, about 201 to 174 million years ago).

Currently, fossil bone samples are being researched by Japanese and Vietnamese paleontologists.