Overview
- University of Minnesota researchers reproduced surging flood waves in the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory to observe how bones move and settle under unsteady flow conditions.
- The peer-reviewed study, published in Paleobiology, reports that articulated skulls tended to remain in place or dig into the bed, while elements like hip bones traveled farther.
- Data indicate that typical seasonal floods usually move bones only short distances unless flows become extremely powerful or the bones are very small.
- Results show that bone sorting under natural surges can diverge from predictions based on decades-old steady-flow classifications such as the Voorhies Groups.
- Experiments used model hadrosauroid elements alongside sheep bones, with authors Michael Chiappone, Peter Makovicky, Michele Guala, and Raymond Rogers planning follow-up tests on much larger bones.