A Syncrude news and community update

Syncrude fossil named in honour of scientist

Remains of a 112-million-year-old plesiosaur uncovered at Syncrude’s mine in 1994 is now on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

It took more than 10 years to name the new addition to the family. But what's a decade here or there when you're talking about a beast that swam the seas about 112 million years ago?

A dinosaur-era marine reptile unearthed in 1994 by a 100-ton electric shovel in Syncrude’s mine finally has a moniker all its own.

Nichollsia borealis was named in honour of the late Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Nicholls, the former curator of Marine Reptiles at the Royal Tyrrell Museum and a pioneering researcher who passed away in 2004.

Patrick Druckenmiller, Curator of Earth Sciences at the University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks, and Dr. Tony Russell, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary, published their findings in a peer-reviewed journal formally naming the prehistoric predator.

It was an exciting discovery considering it is one of the most complete plesiosaur finds recovered in North America and one of the oldest yet found from the Cretaceous Period, about 142 to 65 million years ago. The find represented a new genus of plesiosaur, which roamed the world’s seas between 205 and 65 million years ago. Plesiosaurs went extinct at about the same time as land-living dinosaurs.

“The skull of the specimen, Nichollsia borealis, is in our Discoveries Gallery—a gallery that highlights some of the most recent significant discoveries,” says Lisa Making, Head, Branch Corporate Services at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. “We are only able to show the skull because of the size of the specimen and scientifically, the skull is the most important part.”

The exhibit highlights Syncrude's contribution to its discovery with a photo of the mine and the equipment used when the remains were discovered. Operators discovered the newly-named plesiosaur 14 years ago, when the specimen was exposed about 25 metres below the surface by a shovel during routine operations.

“The machine operator spend a lot of time staring at rock up there so they become pretty knowledgeable in recognizing even small differences in the areas where they are digging,” says Patrick, a former University of Calgary PhD student. “It's remarkable these guys saw something and took the time to stop operations and took such care to preserve what they found. There aren’t too many finds anywhere in the world during active quarrying, especially when using such enormous equipment.”

Several notable finds have come out of the Syncrude mine and the organization is proud of its contributions to furthering the understanding of the paleontological resources of Wood Buffalo, says Don Thompson, manager, External and Regulatory Affairs. “Portions of our mine site were, in fact, once oceanic settings and provided habitat for marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs,” says Don. “As a result of the incredibly sharp eyes of our shovel operators, several notable discoveries have been made.”

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