Severe drought conditions at Dinosaur Valley State Park near Glen Rose, Texas, have revealed dinosaur tracks (pictured) that experts believe date back to about 113 million years ago. The tracks belong to the Acrocanthosaurus, a nearly 5-meter-tall bipedal dinosaur with three toes and claw on each limb. The drought has also uncovered tracks belonging to Sauroposeidon proteles, a long-necked and small-headed dinosaur that stood15 meters tall. The footprints, once buried under sediment, may have been protected from natural weathering and exposure—making them particularly deep. Experts believe the drought may continue to uncover more dinosaur footprints while also erasing others as Texas continues to face extreme weather, such as intense heat and flash floods.
A drought situation in Texas lead to the drying up of a river in the Dinosaur Valley State Park and exposed giant tracks from what appeared to be reptiles that used to exist some 113 million years ago, said an official source on Tuesday.
As a punishing drought grips parts of the world this summer, bodies of water have been drying up, exposing submerged World War II relics in Europe, several sets of human remains at Lake Mead outside Las Vegas, and even an entire village in Spain.
The latest find as water levels fall: dinosaur tracks in Texas.
Severe drought conditions at Dinosaur Valley State Park, about 60 miles southwest of Fort Worth, exposed dinosaur tracks from around 113 million years ago that were previously hidden underneath the Paluxy River, according to Stephanie Garcia, a spokeswoman for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The tracks, which were discovered this month, belong to Acrocanthosaurus, which are theropods, or bipedal dinosaurs with three toes and claws on each limb.
The dinosaur would have stood 15 feet tall and weighed close to seven tons as an adult. They would have left their tracks in sediment that hardened into what is now limestone, researchers say.
“Due to the excessive drought conditions this past summer, the river dried up completely in most locations, allowing for more tracks to be uncovered here in the park,” Ms. Garcia said in a statement. “Under normal river conditions, these newer tracks are under water and are commonly filled in with sediment, making them buried and not as visible.
Photos of the tracks were posted on Facebook and it shows some three-toed footprint leading down towards a dry tree-lined riverbed. It is "one of the longest dinosaur trackways in the world," a caption accompanying the images says.
An official from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said that the dry weather made the tracks visible.
"Due to the excessive drought conditions this past summer, the river dried up completely in most locations, allowing for more tracks to be uncovered here in the park. Under normal river conditions, these newer tracks are under water and are commonly filled in with sediment, making them buried and not as visible," she said.
According to experts most of the recently revealed tracks were made by Acrocanthosaurus, which weighed nearly seven tons (6,350 kilograms) as an adult and stood 15 feet ..
While drought revealed the tracks, rain is in the forecast, meaning that they will most likely be covered again.
The rare footprint sighting excited dinosaur enthusiasts and elated Paul Baker, who grew up in the park trailing along behind his dad, a ranger there for three decades.
"To see those claw marks, I don't care how old you are, is exciting," said Baker.
"And I can remember going along the river with my father and feeling for those tracks along the riverbed… feeling those claw marks underneath the water and seeing them."
"And it's a neat feeling, especially when you're a young kid."
About 20 years before he died, Baker's father was the first to find the dinosaur footprints, revealed during a different drought. The site was named in his honour, and was revealed again by the recent drought.
"They are under mud and water most of the time. Only during extreme drought are some visible," said Baker, who is the manager of the Dinosaur Valley Park Store and volunteers at the Glen Rose, Texas park.
He and other volunteers help clean up the tracks with whisk brooms and leaf blowers so visitors can see them.
Other species that left tracks behind at the park include the Sauroposeidon, a herbivore that stood about 18 metres tall and weighed about 39 tonnes. The Sauroposeidon is a type of sauropod dinosaur, whose tracks are large and elephant-like.
Davis says the Acrocanthosaurus may have fed on the Sauroposeidon's young or injured. The prints were made when the area was a shallow inland sea during the Cretaceous period, long before it was rolling prairies in central Texas.
Rains had already began to fill in the ancient tracks, and will soon hide the secret treasures of the park once again in the mud and silt of the river.
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