https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/drought-reveals-113-million-year-old-dinosaur-tracks-in-texas-180982829/
Drought has dried up part of a river in central Texas, revealing 113-million-year-old dinosaur tracks.
The prehistoric footprints emerged at Dinosaur Valley State Park, which
is located in the town of Glen Rose, southwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth
area.
As the name suggests, the park already protects other dinosaur
footprints. But the tracks that recently emerged are usually hidden
under the mud, silt and waters of the Paluxy River. This summer,
however, water levels have dipped so low that the prehistoric
indentations are now visible. So far, volunteers have counted 75 newly
exposed footprints in the parched riverbed.
“It has been another very hot, very dry year, so our researchers are
trying to take advantage of the drought,” says park superintendent Jeff
Davis to the Dallas Morning News’ Sarah Bahari.
Two different types of dinosaurs likely made the footprints, according
to park officials. One was Acrocanthosaurus, a 15-foot-tall carnivore
that weighed approximately 14,000 pounds. As the gargantuan reptile
walked around the area on two legs, it left behind the outline of its three-toed feet. The other was Sauroposeidon proteles, which has been
the official state dinosaur of Texas since 2009. This long-necked
behemoth may have measured up to 100 feet long and weighed closer to
88,000 pounds. It left behind larger, bulbous-shaped tracks that are
similar to elephant footprints.
One footprint appears to be a “double track”—an example of two overlapping Acrocanthosaurus tracks, as Davis tells KSAT’s Mary Claire Patton. (Or, as the nonprofit Friends of Dinosaur Valley State Park
joked on Facebook, a “huge 6 toed clawed prehistoric monster track.”)
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