Dinosaur Tracks Found In Arkansas

At a newly discovered field of dinosaur tracks in Arkansas, researchers say they are using both cutting-edge and traditional techniques.


Scientists at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, said the field in southwest Arkansas covers an area of about two football fields and contains the fossilized tracks of several species, UPI.com reported.


Some tracks are from species never previously documented in Arkansas, a university release said Wednesday.


"The quality of the tracks and the length of the trackways make this an important site," researcher Stephen K. Boss said, noting that the rock types where the footprints were found provide clues to what the climate would have been like 120 million years ago.


"Picture an environment much like that of the shores of the Persian Gulf today. The air temperature was hot. The water was shallow and very salty," Boss said. "It was a harsh environment. We're not sure what the animals were doing here, but clearly they were here in some abundance."


The most dramatic tracks, about 2 feet long by a foot wide, may have been those of a three-toed Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, one of the largest predators ever to walk the earth, the researchers said.


According to researchers at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, they believed the three-toed print belonged to the Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, one of the largest predators to walk the earth.


Also found on the small patch of area are prints for suaropods, plant-eating dinosaurs with large necks.


Scientists will use the dinosaur tracks to better understand the Early Cretaceous period which occurred from 115 to 120 million years ago.


Brian Platt of the University of Kansas told Fox News:


“Through tracks, we can learn all sorts of things about dinosaur biomechanics and behavior.” Platt went on to add, “Dinosaur bones can be dragged away by animals or swept out to sea. But we know that about 120 million years ago, dinosaurs walked right through here.”
Researchers will continue examining the area and footprints will be excavated and examined to determine more about the dinosaurs that lived in the area and to better understand their environment.