Palaeontologists in Canada have been excavating a massive deposit of dinosaur bones in Alberta Canada. They estimate the bone bed contains over 8,000 individuals, including adults and juveniles. The dinosaurs have been identified as Pachyrhinosaurus – a large herbivore similar to Triceratops, but having a thick mass of bone on the nose rather than a horn. Scientists estimate adult Pachyrhinosaurus grew to 6 metres (20ft) long and weighed up to two tonnes.
The researchers believe the dinosaurs were a migrating herd that was buried by a sudden catastrophic flood. According to BBC News, “All the evidence suggests that this catastrophic event was a flash flood -perhaps a storm over the mountains that sent an unstoppable torrent of water towards the herd, ripping trees from their roots and shifting boulders.”
Emily Bamforth, a curator at the Philip. J Currie Dinosaur Museum in Alberta, explained to the BBC: “We think it was a catastrophic flooding event. Possibly from monsoon rains in the nearby mountains, or even a hurricane-like storm washed inland. It would have been similar to flash flooding events that happen today, but on a massive scale.”
The scientists also noted “Rocks found at the site show the swirls of sediment from the fast-flowing water churning everything up. It’s as if the destruction is frozen in time as a wave in the stone.”
As there are so many dinosaurs of the same species in the deposit scientists are able to study the variation between individuals. Like Triceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus had a bony frill and horns on its head. Researchers have found each individual had subtle differences in the frill and in the bony mass on the nose. According to Emily Bamford, “We’re coming to understand that almost every Pachyrhinosaurus had a slightly different frill. We think maybe that helped them recognise each other in the herd.”
Scientists suggest the bony mass on the nose could have been for recognising individuals, attracting mates or used in combat, or maybe all of these functions.
References: BBC News 19May 2025; BBC Science Focus 19 May 2025; Interesting Engineering 19 May 2025
Editorial Comment: It is good to see scientists admitting that such a massive fossil deposit had to be formed by rapid catastrophic processes, rather than slow gradual burial. However, the size of this burial site and the size of the individual animals indicate a massive catastrophic flood involving masses of sediment far beyond anything observed in a tropical storm in today’s weather systems.
This dinosaur bone-bed has been known for many years and has been promoted as a flood deposit. John Mackay has visited this site as far back as 2008 and photographed a sign put up by local authorities explaining the flood drowning origin of the fossils.
In 2010 CBC Canada reported the following comments made by David Eberth, a research scientist at the Royal Tyrell Museum and author of a book on bonebeds:
“Data from this mega bonebed provided pretty clear evidence that these and other dinosaurs were routinely wiped out by catastrophic tropical storms that flooded what was once a coastal lowland here in Alberta 76 million years ago. It is unlikely these animals could tread water for very long, so the scale of the carnage must have been breathtaking.”
“Not only can we now explain why these horned dinosaurs were preserved in such abundance, but the tropical storm model also explains why there are so many kinds of Dinosaurs in the rocks at Dinosaur Provincial Park, the Drumhellerarea and even Grand Prairie, and why they are often found preserved so exquisitely.” CBC News 17 June 2010
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2010/06/17/dinosaur-graveyard.html
Also significant is the comment in the BBC report about the rock layers being the result of swirls of sediment, i.e. formed by flowing water rather than slowly and gradually falling out of suspension to build up one on top of the other, as uniformitarian theory would have it. In fact, the photo of one lump of rock that has been cut through to reveal the rock layers shows patterns similar to those produced by Creation Research strata experiments. Our experiments have repeatedly shown that rock layers, including horizontal and curved layers form sideways as a result of the sorting effect of flowing water. Read about our research here.
Altogether, this massive bone bed of huge fossilised creatures is best explained by the world-wide cataclysm that was Noah’s Flood.
The comments about the function of bony frills and horns are also interesting. These structures have long been interpreted as defensive structures that evolved in order to survive in the struggle for life. However, as the dinosaur experts admit, these features are useful for communication and attracting mates, and could also have had a role in thermoregulation. These are all useful functions in the original very good world that God created. The struggle for life only became a fact of life after the world was corrupted by sin, and animals used whatever structures they already have for defensive and offensive functions.
Creation Research News, 5 July 2025
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