A handout picture obtained on August 23, 2022 courtesy of the Dinosaur Valley State Park reveals dinosaur tracks from round 113 million years in the past.
A drought in Texas dried up a river flowing by Dinosaur Valley State Park, exposing tracks from large reptiles that lived some 113 million years in the past, an official mentioned Tuesday.
Photos posted on Facebook present three-toed footprints main down a dry tree-lined riverbed within the southern US state. It is “one of many longest dinosaur trackways on the earth,” a caption accompanying the pictures says.
Stephanie Salinas Garcia of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department mentioned dry climate made the tracks seen.
“Due to the 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.
“Under 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.
Most of the not too long ago revealed tracks had been made by Acrocanthosaurus, which weighed practically seven tons (6,350 kilograms) as an grownup and stood 15 toes (4.5 meters) tall.
Another dinosaur, Sauroposeidon, additionally left tracks within the park. It measured 60 toes tall and weighed 44 tons in maturity.
A handout picture obtained on August 23, 2022 courtesy of the Dinosaur Valley State Park reveals dinosaur tracks from round 113 million years in the past.
The state park—positioned 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.
While drought revealed the tracks, rain is within the forecast, which means they may seemingly be coated as soon as extra.
“While they may 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.
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Drought uncovers dinosaur tracks in US park (2022, August 23)
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