IANS/Amravati, Maharashtra

Fossilised bones and eggs of gigantic dinosaurs at measured around 18-20m and weighed 10-13 tonnes, have been discovered from the Salbardi area, around 60km from Amravati  in eastern Maharashtra, a geologist said yesterday.
The discoveries were made after nearly six years of efforts by a team led by A K Srivastava and his doctorate student R S Mankar, both from the Department of Geology, SGB Amravati University.
“These remains have been found in the sedimentary rocks, geologically known as ‘Lameta Formation’ deposited during the Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) period,” said Mankar.
Following detailed studies of the discovery, the two experts have interpreted that around 66-71mn years ago, there was a huge lake in which these Lameta sediments were deposited.
During that period, a species of dinosaur, Titanosaurus Colberti, belonging to the Sauropod Family, also inhabited the region and laid eggs, Mankar explained.
The dinosaurian remains now exist in the form of small fragments of bones and complete eggs of the animals, which are firmly fixed in the rocks and hence irretrievable, said Mankar.
The discovery has been published in the latest issue of the prestigious journal Current Science, Srivastava said.
From the finding, the geologists have presumed that the Titanosaurus Colberti was a giant reptile measuring around 18-20m long and weighing up to 13 tonnes.
It was a herbivorous animal with a short and deep neck, long forelimbs and a short tail, but could not survive after the Late Cretaceous period because of hostile conditions which developed due to high temperatures and release of hazardous gases during the volcanic activity forming the Deccan Trap Basalt.
Mankar said this is not the first dinosaur remains that have been found in India – earlier too there have been discoveries in Nagpur and Chandrapur in Maharashtra.