© N. P. Edwards50-Million-year-old reptile skin from the Green River Formation, USA. A team of researchers led by the University of Manchester in the UK have used modern infrared technology to show that protein residue has survived within the remarkably preserved skin. The small sample is about 8 cm long.
Known as amides, these chemicals of the ancient life are now visible to the human eye using infrared and x-ray technology to unveil the structure of fossilized soft tissues.
The technique is called non-destructive Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR), and results were corroborated using other quantitative methods as well as comparison with the skin of living reptiles.
"Here physics, palaeontology and chemistry have collided to yield incredible insight to the building blocks of fossilized soft tissue," said study coauthor Dr. Phil Manning of the University of Manchester in a press release from the university. "It was a privilege to work with some of the world's top scientists from multiple disciplines, all to help unlock secrets locked in the sands of time."
"The results of this study have wider implications, such as understanding what happens to buried wastes over long periods of time. The fossil record provides us with a long-running experiment, from which we can learn in order to help resolve current problems," Manning said.
The findings may even provide information on how the preservation of the skin took place. The researchers proposed that as the amides broke down, they bonded with trace metals which helped to connect the material with sediment minerals and prevent further decomposition.
"We find intact protein residue and this correlates with trace metals. This is an amazing result," University of Manchester geochemist and coauthor Dr. Roy Wogelius wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. "The metals are most likely related to pigment and indicate pigment density which is clear if you look at the maps of copper."
The trace metals may also yield other clues about the reptile, such as its likely diet.
"Learning about diet will take the analysis of more samples, but we can say that the trace metals concentrations are similar to those in modern reptiles, and so it is likely that the trace metal or nutrient requirements have remained similar over time," Wogelius said.
Such non-destructive mapping methods could be vital in helping paleontologists better understand the biochemistry of extinct organisms.
"The ability to chemically analyse rare and precious fossils such as these without the need to remove material and destroy them is an important and long overdue addition to field of palaeontology," said coauthor Nick Edwards in the University of Manchester release.
"Hopefully this will provide future opportunities to unlock the information stored in other similarly preserved specimens."
FTIR and other techniques employed by the team to investigate how dinosaurs used to live, look, and function are detailed in Jurassic CSI, the researchers' six-part series run in conjunction with National Geographic.
"The series explores many new techniques in the earth, physical and biological sciences, from proteomics to particles physics, and from locomotion to geochemistry," said Manning.
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