Pterosaur fossils from the Cretaceous of Chile: evidence for a pterosaur colony on an inland desert plain

Abstract

AbstractA 2-m-thick bed of sandstone and conglomerate in early Cretaceous desert sediments in the Andes of northern Chile contains thousands of scattered pterosaur bones. The bed displays sedimentary features which suggest that it was the product of a single major flood event. It seems possible that a large pterosaur colony was overwhelmed by the waters of an exceptional flood sweeping across a flat alluvial plain.