Exploding dinosaur mystery solved

From Examiner.com: Exploding dinosaur mystery solved
Scientists at the University of Zurich and Basel have succeeded in explaining why fossilized dinosaur embryos are often found at such great distances from the fossils of their mothers in an article published at the Alpha Galileo web site on March 27, 2011.

Previously, paleontologists were convinced that the gases created due to death were sufficient to rupture a dead dinosaur’s carcass and expell the embryos at the distances that have been commonly observed in most dinosaur embryo finds.

Examination of ichthyosaur carcasses and embryos found near them indicated that the gases produced by death are not sufficient in pressure to rupture a dinosaurs skin and expel embryos to such distances seen in many different fossil finds.. The mother dinosaur skeleton is usually found nearly intact. Ichthyosaurs were large ocean living dinosaurs that thrived from 245 to 95 million years ago.
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The gases caused by death are the culprit. The dead dinosaur first sank due to their weight. The death gases caused the massive carcass to rise in the ocean where predators could consume it. The skeleton of the mother could relatively remain intact while the embryos would be scattered if not consumed.

Some animals just sank and decomposed. The embryos were scattered by strong underwater currents.

Paper:
Achim Reisdorf, Roman Bux, Daniel Wyler, Mark Benecke, Christian Klug, Michael Maisch, Peter Fornaro, Andreas Wetzel (2012): Float, explode or sink: post-mortem fate of lung-breathing marine vertebrates. In: Michael Wuttke & Achim Reisdorf (eds): Taphonomic processes in terrestrial and marine environments. – Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 92(1): 67-81. DOI: 10.1007/s12549-011-0067-z