Plesiosaur fossil found at Syncrude mining site in northern Alberta

Plesiosaur fossil discovered at the Syncrude Mildred Lake Mine. (Source: Suncor.com)

The oldest Cretaceous plesiosaur fossil ever found in Alberta has been discovered at Syncrude's Mildred Lake Mine site, the company says.

The discovery was made on March 12 by a hydraulic shovel operator.

Jenna Plamondon, a 16-year employee, spotted a contrast in the oil sand during her shift that day.

“I kept staring at this little chunk of dirt. As a shovel operator, we're trained to see things that are out of the ordinary," Plamondon said in a written statement on the company's website.

“I called my leader and asked to have geology look and confirm. We made the decision to move the shovel just in case it was an actual fossil.”

The company's geology team reached out to the Royal Tyrrell Museum upon discovery of the fossil.

After some examination, experts determined the fossil was part of a plesiosaur tail.

Plesiosaurs, which are marine reptiles, lived about 115 million years ago.

At that time, the Mildred Lake Mine Site would have been a vast shallow sea.

Experts say similar fossils are usually found in rock layers higher up.

They believe the creature may have died in the inland sea, and washed up into the shallow water.

“This one may have been buried in a storm, which put a great deal of sand on top of the carcass all at once. This presents very unusual preservation conditions,” Dr. Donald Henderson, curator of dinosaurs at the museum wrote on Suncor's website. “It’s so rare for things to become fossils, especially big things such as marine reptiles and dinosaurs. It’s only the fact that we’re shifting so much rock here, that we’re fortunate to see this small piece of fossil.”

Experts checked the area around the original site for additional fossil fragments, and after hours of searching, a small piece of vertebrae was found by a geology co-op student.

“As we were digging, I found something similar to bone,” said Ruachwaar Gatwech, who is in his third year of geological studies at the University of British Columbia. “The senior geologist thought it would be a good experience for me and another co-op student to come to the site. It was quite an experience. It’s my first time in the mine, first time to see and find an actual fossil in the field.”

The museum transported the fossil to Drumheller using a technique similar to casting a human bone.

Experts say this ensured the protection of the fragile bone.

“I’m really excited because if the fossil ends up being displayed at the museum, I’ll get to show my one-year-old son what mom found,” Plamondon said. “Not every shovel operator gets to find one, so it’s pretty cool that I’m one of the few.”