Citizen Scientists UNCOVER Thousands of Microfossils

A Portal to Earth's Past Emerges in a Remote Corner of the World

- ASHLEY BALZER VIGIL

Nestled within a pasture in rural New South Wales, Australia, where rolling fields meet endless skies, an unsuspecting farmer named Nigel McGrath found himself on the brink of a remarkable discovery. As he toiled to remove one of several large, heavy rocks that threatened to damage his farm equipment if left in place, he noticed the fossilized imprint of an ancient leaf. He spotted several more as he continued clearing the rocks from his field.

Word of his finds serendipitously reached a team of paleontologists who were traveling through the area on the way to a nearby Jurassic fossil site. Intrigued, the scientists stopped by the farmer’s field to examine the unwieldy rocks. Soon they learned that the fossils the farmer noticed on the outside of these rocks were just a small glimpse of the treasures the rocks contained.

“Since the discovery of this new, more exciting site, we’ve never been back to the Jurassic site we were initially traveling to” said Michael Frese, an associate professor at Australia’s University of Canberra who co-leads research at the new site.

CROWDSOURCING A GEOLOGICAL TREASURE HUNT

A small patch of the pasture is now regarded as a “Lagerstätte” – a site that yields exceptionally well-preserved fossils – and called McGraths Flat after the farm owner. The boulders that were previously seen as obnoxious obstacles hold the potential to unravel a chapter of Earth’s history.

Finding the fossils each rock contains doesn’t happen the way it’s usually depicted, with paleontologists delicately brushing around the edges of each newfound imprint.