370-Million-Year Old Marine Fossil Found
Posted on: Sunday, 6 June 2004, 06:00 CDT
KANGAR, Fri. - A team of local geologists claimed to have found a 370- million-year-old marine fossil believed to be the oldest ever found in Malaysia, in Kampung Guar Jentik, here recently.
Malaysian Geologists Association president Associate Professor Dr Lee Chai Peng said the fossil named "crinoid" lived in the Paleozoic era before the dinosaurs ruled the earth.
He said the fossil, the size of a football, was found in the lime stone hill near the village.
Lee said he hoped the discovery would help researchers determine the age of Peninsular Malaysia and how it was formed.
"The crinoid is believed to live on the surface of salt water much like the water lilies, and survived by eating insects and plankton," he said after the launch of the 18th Malaysian Geological conference at Putra Palace Hotel today.
He said the find would also help prove the theory that the greater part of Perlis, Kedah and Langkawi were once covered by the ocean.
"We found between 30 and 40 fossilised crinoids around the village. This is an exciting discovery as the only discovery of its existence was made in Langkawi just four years ago."
Geologists also found fossilised cockles believed to be around four million years old at a quarry in Utan Aji near here.
"The fossils are similar to the discoveries in Australia and Sinumasu and Shan in Thailand," he said.
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