Drought reveals 110-million-year-old dinosaur tracks in Texas
The newly discovered tracks probably belong to two species of theropods: an Acrocanthosaurus, which weighed up to 7 tons, and a Sauropodseiden, which weighed about 44 tons
As Texas grappled with record-breaking heat this summer and a growing drought reduced water levels, a group of volunteers discovered something magnificent: new tracks of giant dinosaurs believed to date back some 110 million years.
Paul Baker, sales manager at Dinosaur Valley State Park, told CNN that he
"never seen so many dinosaur tracks"
before.
“It's exciting to see something no one else has seen; it's almost like a scavenger hunt, in a way ,”
said Baker, who helps clean up and map dinosaur tracks in the park.
“I thought I'd seen every trace of dinosaur in existence, but over the last couple of years, with the drought we've had and the hard work of our volunteers, it's just an amazing sight ."
Dinosaur Valley State Park, about an hour and a half south of Dallas, is home to a large number of dinosaur tracks imprinted by sauropods and theropods that lived in the area about 113 million years ago. It's a hot spot for dinosaur enthusiasts and tourists who typically flock to the now-dry Paluxy River for fishing, swimming, and kayaking.
When the water level dropped this summer, an older story was revealed.
Since June, a dry spell has swept across parts of Texas, with extreme drought now covering more than a third of the state, the US Drought Monitor reported.
"This was the hottest June I've ever been in and I'm 45 now ,"
Baker said, saying the river bed is
"just dry ."
In the area where many of the new dinosaur tracks were discovered, Baker said the limestone in the river bed has sometimes reached 120F and the heat is drying the soil even more.
Finding an important piece of paleontological history is somewhat of a silver lining in extreme weather for Glen Kuban, who has been working and writing about dinosaur trails in and around Dinosaur Valley State Park for more than 40 years. And this year, Kuban's work has largely focused on cleaning up two large sites in the park, known as the Ballroom and Denio sites, where he plans to expand the park's trail mapping to include those that were previously buried under mud and water.
It has been determined that the newly discovered tracks likely belong to two species of theropods: an Acrocanthosaurus, which weighed up to 7 tons, and a Sauropodseiden, also known as Paluxysaurus, which weighed around 44 tons.
“It is important to clarify that drought does not magically reveal traces of pristine conditions”
Kuban told CNN.
Even
"when the river is dry, the tracks are usually covered in large amounts of gravel, sand and dried mud. It takes many volunteers many days – in this case weeks – to remove the sediment cover and fill the tracks”.
Last year, Kuban organized a group of volunteers, including members of the Dallas Paleontological Society, Master Naturalists and Friends of Dinosaur Valley State Park, to clean up and map North America's longest dinosaur tail, as well as several nearby tracks.
Meanwhile, Baker provides them with supplies, equipment and logistical support, while also helping them with research. Baker grew up in Dinosaur Valley State Park (his father was a park administrator for 30 years) and now runs several businesses, including the park's gift shop.
He said helping unearth dinosaur tracks is "very special ," it allows him to "give something back to a place and community that I love and that helped me grow."
