Sea creature fossils found in eastern Turkey

MUS, Turkey

Fossils belonging to sea creatures estimated to be 35 million years old were found by a field research team in eastern Turkey on Saturday.

Iskender Dolek, a geomorphologist and lecturer at Mus Alparslan University's Disaster Management Application and Research Center, told journalists that he would send the invertebrate marine fossils to paleontologists to determine their age, species, and genus.

"While we were expecting mollusc fossils in the field, we encountered gastropods and sea urchins, as well as fossils that we think belong to different species," Dolek said on the find in the eastern province of Mus. "We think these may date back 35 million years."

"We'll have new data and new information about the paleogeography and paleoclimatic conditions of Mus, especially in the geography of the region,” he said, underlining that the information could help reinterpret, the regional geography of eastern Anatolia.

He noted that fossils, which were found at an altitude of 1,600 meters (5,250 feet), "naturally indicate that this place was once a sea."

*Writing by Beyza Binnur Donmez