Ferocious storms can churn up a lot of coastal terrain, and sometimes very strange things are found, like buried forests from the asteroid that caused the end of the age of dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Another of these events occurred in New Zealand with Cyclone Gabrielle, which hit the North Island along with Vanuatu and parts of Australia in February 2023. According to this article in Historyen, “In just a few days, the ferocious Cyclone Gabrielle churned up rocks, unveiling jaw-dropping fossils of massive sea creatures that roamed the Earth 80 million years ago.” The fossils include vertibrae from sea reptiles that were up to 45 feet long. Imagine what else these storms could help us find in the future!
An impression of one of the fossils is visible on a rock. Both sea reptiles roamed some 80 million years ago and reached remarkable sizes. Source: GNS Science/Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust