Father and son discover fossilized ichthyosaur skull in B.C.’s Kiskatinaw River Valley

The fossil skull of a marine reptile called an ichthyosaur is now being studied after being found in B.C.’s Kiskatinaw River Valley, about 52 kilometers south of Fort St. John.

Local resident Kevin Geist and his 11-year-old son Andreas discovered the skull two summers ago after spotting a strange black rock along a river bank in the fossil-rich Peace Area.

Kiskatinaw River has fallen Record lowest level after four years of droughtWhich means there are more rocks being exposed. In this case, one of those rocks contained a prehistoric skull.

“It wasn’t in the water. And that’s why some of these things are coming up now, because unfortunately we’re in a drought situation,” Geist said. “A lot of the rocks are more exposed than before.”

Geist was not sure at first what the rock was, and did not initially think it was that important.

After returning this summer to examine the rock, Geist’s sister-in-law Diana Hoffman sent photos of it Tumbler Ridge Museum,

“They showed a lot of interest, so that made it exciting,” Geist said.

It has since been confirmed as an ichthyosaur by the Tumbler Ridge Museum Foundation.

Ichthyosaurs are not dinosaurs, they are marine reptiles. A mix between dolphins and fish, they were perfectly adapted to the aquatic environment, and gave birth to their offspring in the ocean.

Ichthyosaurs are believed to have died out in the Triassic period, said Eamonn Drysdale, the museum’s resident paleontologist.

But Drysdale says the river valley dates to the Cretaceous period, a time when ichthyosaurs may have been extinct, meaning the location of the skull is unusual.

Living in the shallow sea that covered the plains more than 250 million years ago BC, the skull was encased in carbonate rock from the Triassic and probably pushed into a river valley by a glacier after the formation of the Rocky Mountains.

“It’s been quite a journey for him,” Drysdale said of the skull.

According to Drysdale, fossils in the Peace region of northeastern BC may be as old as 500 million years, covering a large portion of Earth’s history.

“We found such a diversity of fossils,” he said.

“And for people who are out in the area looking for things or just walking around enjoying the very beautiful environment that we have, it’s interesting that you find specimens and fossils from different time periods.”

fossil rich area

The Peace area is rich in fossils, home to many discoveries – including dinosaur bones, footprints and other prehistoric life.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site at Tumbler Ridge includes exhibitions and trails showcasing some of those discoveries.

Drysdale says it’s hard to say if there’s anything else like the ichthyosaur skull in the valley because of how it arrived from the glacier, but there’s a possibility that low water levels could expose other fossil-rich rocks.

“We haven’t explored that area much at this time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if fossil material comes up there,” Drysdale said in an email.

To safely secure the skull, it was transported by helicopter on the back of a pickup truck, and then transported to the museum.

Other partial ichthyosaur specimens have been recovered in the mountainous area at Tumbler Ridge, but mostly fragments of vertebrae and some skull material, Drysdale noted.

He further added that while it is difficult to find a perfect specimen, the best example from the Peace region is a Shonisaurus, another marine reptile from the Triassic. It was removed from the Sikanee Chief River in 2001.

Drysdale says the recovery was a community effort, starting with the Geist family.

“We’re a small local museum. So a lot of our fossil reports, and the locations where the fossils were found, are from local people,” Drysdale said.

“Everyone was very nice. We had a great time and we’re very excited to see what this sample can tell us.”