Drought uncovers dinosaur tracks in US park

A drought in Texas dried up a river flowing via Dinosaur Valley State Park, exposing tracks from big reptiles that lived some 113 million years in the past, an official mentioned Tuesday.

Photographs posted on Fb present three-toed footprints main down a dry tree-lined riverbed within the southern US state. It’s “one of many longest dinosaur trackways on the planet,” a caption accompanying the pictures says.

Stephanie Salinas Garcia of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Division mentioned dry climate made the tracks seen.

“As a result of extreme drought circumstances this previous summer season, the river dried up fully in most areas, permitting for extra tracks to be uncovered right here within the park,” she mentioned.

“Below regular river circumstances, these newer tracks are beneath water and are generally crammed in with sediment, making them buried and never as seen,” Garcia mentioned.

A lot of the not too long ago revealed tracks had been made by Acrocanthosaurus, which weighed almost seven tons (6,350 kilograms) as an grownup and stood 15 toes (4.5 meters) tall.

One other dinosaur, Sauroposeidon, additionally left tracks within the park. It measured 60 toes tall and weighed 44 tons in maturity.

The state park—situated in an inland space southwest of town of Dallas—was as soon as on the sting of an historic ocean, and dinosaurs left footprints within the mud, its web site says.

Whereas drought revealed the tracks, rain is within the forecast, that means they’ll doubtless be lined as soon as extra.

“Whereas they’ll quickly be buried once more by the rain and the river, Dinosaur Valley State Park will proceed to guard these 113 million-year-old tracks not just for current, however future generations,” Garcia mentioned.

© 2022 AFP