Dinosaur eggshells could give accurate burial ages for fossils
Feb 23rd 2026
Researchers led by Ryan Tucker at Stellenbosch University describe a method that uses the microstructure of fossil eggshells and uranium-lead dating to determine when those shells were buried, offering a way to date rocks and other fossils in the same sedimentary layer.
- The team published the method in Nature Communications Earth & Environment led by paleontologist Ryan Tucker.
- Eggshells preserve a unique calcium carbonate microstructure that records diagenetic changes from fossilization and burial.
- Applying uranium-lead dating to eggshell material can reveal the time when sediments covering the eggshell were deposited.
- If validated, the approach could broaden the types of continental sedimentary sequences that can be dated directly by radioisotopes.