China is a region rich in sedimentary rocks from the Mesozoic period and incredible discoveries about dinosaurs have been made there since the 1990s. I was wondering which other areas of the planet might contain rich and unique fossil resources from the Mesozoic and which are still unexplored or underexplored.
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2$\begingroup$ To get a first idea, you could look at a geological map of the world, e.g., this one. There seems to be a lot of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks in Siberia for instance, I doubt the region has been fully explored for fossils (except for fossil fuels...). $\endgroup$– Jean-Marie PrivalOct 20, 2022 at 7:47
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$\begingroup$ Regions that were once abundant with water during the Mesozoic would be a good place to look. Such locations, which include rivers, lakes & swamps can be good ambush sites for predators particularly if they coincide with seasonal migration routes for herbivores . $\endgroup$– FredOct 20, 2022 at 10:07
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$\begingroup$ (For the wider audience, might be nice to give a link or description of some such discoveries in China in recent years to give further support to your question) $\endgroup$– JeopardyTempestOct 21, 2022 at 1:37
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which other areas of the planet might contain rich and unique fossil resources from the Mesozoic and which are still unexplored or underexplored.
During the Cretaceous period Antarctica was ice-free and had temperate temperatures and forests covered Antarctica, Dinosaurs roamed Antarctica around the middle-end of the Mesozoic. I wouldn't be surprised if there were many Dinosaur fossils found in Antarctica because of the abundunce of forests and Dinosaurs 145 to 66 Million years ago, It would make sense if most of these fossils were found someplace else because ice sheets move and can pick up and carry Dinosaur fossils with them and then melt and deposit them someplace else.
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$\begingroup$ glaciers mostly just destroy existing fossils. and yes there are Antarctic dinosaur fossils, mostly on islands the glaciers can't scoure or places with minimal glaciation en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Hill_Island_Formation $\endgroup$– JohnNov 24, 2022 at 6:09
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More areas than can be listed here.
fossils are almost everywhere, almost everyplace with sedimentary rocks. So wherever you have Mesozoic rock you may find fossils.
It is exposed fossils that are hard to find.
Kansas for instance likely has massive Mesozoic fossil deposits, but it is under meters of soil. the planet is covered in places which likely have Mesozoic fossils but lack exposures. this is why road cuts and large scale excavations so often expose fossils.
