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| Foto:Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose |
VISTORBELITUNG.COM,In a remarkable paleontological discovery, a set of pristine dinosaur tracks, dating back approximately 113 million years, has been exposed at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. This extraordinary find offers a breathtaking “snapshot” of life during the Early Cretaceous period, captured in stone along the ancient shoreline of what is now the Paluxy River.
The tracks, revealed recently due to severe drought conditions that significantly lowered the river’s water levels, belong to a massive, long-necked sauropod likely the Paluxysaurus or a similar species like Sauroposeidon. These herbivorous giants, some of the largest creatures ever to walk the Earth, left behind a series of deep, dinner-plate-sized impressions in the limestone riverbed. The clarity and depth of the tracks are exceptional, showing distinct toe marks and the outline of the massive foot, a detail often lost to erosion.
“This is one of the longest sequences of consecutive sauropod tracks in North America,” stated a park spokesperson. “Seeing them so clearly is like watching a video playback of that animal’s journey. You can almost feel the ground shake.”
The tracks were found in an area of the park famously known as the “Lone Ranger Trackway.” The drought, while challenging, has acted as a natural archaeologist, sweeping away layers of sediment and water that typically conceal these ancient traces. Each track measures roughly two feet across, painting a vivid picture of a behemoth that may have been 60 feet long and weighed several tens of tons, plodding through the moist mud of a coastal plain.
Dinosaur Valley State Park is already world-renowned for its wealth of fossilized footprints, primarily from sauropods and the large, three-toed theropod Acrocanthosaurus. The new discovery adds a significant chapter to this already rich narrative, providing scientists with fresh data on the gait, speed, and behavior of these prehistoric titans. Researchers are meticulously documenting the tracks using photogrammetry creating detailed 3D models to preserve them digitally before the river waters inevitably rise and recover them.
Park officials emphasize that while this is a thrilling opportunity for science and education, it is a fragile one. They urge visitors to respect the site, avoid walking on or touching the tracks, and follow all park guidelines to ensure these 113-million-year-old echoes of the past remain intact for future study and wonder.
This serendipitous discovery underscores how natural phenomena can unveil deep history, allowing us to walk, figuratively, in the footsteps of giants. For now, the dried riverbed in Texas offers a rare and direct connection to a time when dinosaurs dominated the landscape, a muddy path fossilized into a timeless monument.