Dozens Of Fossilized Dinosaur Footprints Were Found On A Cliff Face In Alaska, And Nothing Like This Has Ever Been Uncovered Before
In Alaska, researchers encountered a cliff face embedded with the fossilized footprints of dozens of dinosaurs.
The discovery has left them in total shock since nothing of the sort had ever been seen before. The prints are thought to have been made over seventy million years ago.
The track site has been nicknamed “The Coliseum” by the researchers who found it due to its large size and the array of footprints belonging to multiple different species of dinosaur. A coliseum is described as a theater, stadium, or other public gathering space.
The cliff is located in Denali National Park and Preserve and measures around 218 feet tall. The track site is known to be the largest and to contain the most diverse prints in the state of Alaska.
The dinosaurs who made the tracks roamed during the late Cretaceous period, just before their demise.
At that time, the rock face was muddy sediment that most likely surrounded a watering hole on a wide plain that served the many creatures that gathered in the area.
This explains the variety of prints on the rock’s surface. The tracks were made by dinosaurs, both young and fully grown, including plant-eating, duck-billed dinosaurs, and horned dinosaurs, as well as meat-eaters, such as raptors, flying reptiles, and at least one tyrannosaur.
Many years after the dinosaurs made their mark, a tectonic plate collision caused the ground to lift upward, shifting the tracks on their side, which is why the creatures appeared to have walked on a cliff wall rather than on the ground.
The cliff is part of a larger rocky outcrop that is a seven-hour trek from the nearest road, so researchers underwent quite a journey to make this discovery.
Jody – stock.adobe.com- illustrative purposes only
The complex set of tracks was easy to miss because they had been mostly filled with sediment. But when the sun shone at a certain angle, the prints became clear.
The team of researchers noted that the tracks were extremely detailed. Their toe shapes and skin textures could be visible when closely inspected. The cliff also contained the fossilized remains of plants, pollen grains, freshwater shellfish, and footprints left behind by wading birds.
When pieced together, these clues can provide a comprehensive picture of what the ecosystem looked like millions of years ago, which will contribute to our knowledge of dinosaurs as a whole.
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