Iskender Dölek, a geomorphologist and lecturer at Muş Alparslan University's Disaster Management Application and Research Center, told journalists that he would send the invertebrate marine fossils to paleontologists to determine their age, species, and genus. 'While we were expecting mollusc fossils in the field, we encountered gastropods and sea urchins, as well as fossils that we think belong to different species,' Dölek said while talking about the fossil finding in the eastern province of Muş. 'We think these may date back 35 million years,' the geomorphologist said in a statement. 'We'll have new data and new information about the palaeogeography and paleoclimatic conditions of Muş, especially in the geography of the region,' he added. Dölek underlined that the information could help reinterpret, the regional geography of eastern Anatolia. He noted that fossils, which were found at an altitude of 1,600 meters (5,250 feet), 'naturally indicate that this place was once a sea.'
