10 million-year-old dinosaur footprints discovered near Dover
Footprints dating back 110 million years to the last dinosaurs that trampled the land of today’s British Isles have been discovered near the white rocks of Dover, the online version of The Telegraph writes.
Traces were found on the coastal edge of Folkestone in Kent when new fossils emerged after a storm. Traces are believed to have been left by powerful, armored, tank-like reptiles, theropods, three-toed carnivores, and ornithopods, or herbivorous dinosaurs.
“We first found a dinosaur footprint in a rock called the Folkestone Formation, which is also unusual because it was probably the last in the country before it became extinct,” said David Martell, a paleobiologist at the University of Portsmouth.
The remains were discovered by Philip Hadland, curator of the Hastings Museum and Art Gallery.
“I noticed unusual prints in 2011. They seemed to be repetitive and I could only think they could be huge footprints. Based on what geologists think about the rocks here, it seemed unlikely, but when I looked for more footprints, I found Even better ones at low tide.” Hadland explained.
The scientific world has been convinced by research conducted by experts at the University of Portsmouth, and it has been proven that there are indeed dinosaur footprints. Most of them are isolated footprints, but there are places where six adjacent footprints can be seen pointing the way.
The trail’s footprints are about the size of an elephant’s footprint, and were probably left behind by ornithopodichnus. A similar pattern appeared in China from the same period.
The largest footprint was 80 cm long and 65 cm long, a primitive iguanodon-like lizard that was also a herbivore, growing up to 10 meters and walking on two or four feet.
The study appeared in a recent issue of the journal Proceedings Of The Geologists’ Association, some of the footprints are currently on display at the Folkestone Museum.
atv.hu
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