Prof. Hollocher publishes on dinosaur coprolites

Kurt Hollocher, professor of geology, was lead author of a recent paper, "Carnivore Coprolites from the Upper Triassic Ischigualasto Formation, Argentina: Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Evidence for Rapid Initial Mineralization," in the journal Palaios. Hollocher and other scientists investigated a collection of fossilized dinosaur feces from northwestern Argentina. The samples tell about the chemical and mineralogical events during and after lithification, the physiology of the carnivore that produced them, and the likely identity of the carnivore as an early dinosaur, most likely herrarasaurus, one of the world's earliest theropod dinosaurs.