The Drought Drained The River And Exposed An Ancient Dinosaur’s Tracks

Credit: Trollinho on Unsplash

An official stated on Tuesday that a drought in Texas has dried up a river that was passing through Dinosaur Valley State Park, which has exposed the footprints of huge creatures that lived approximately 113 million years ago.

Photos of three-toed footprints leading down a dry riverbed flanked with trees in a southern state in the United States have been uploaded to Facebook According to Stephanie Salinas Garcia, who works with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the dry weather made it possible to see the tracks.

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 underwater and are commonly filled in with sediment, making them buried and not as visible.

Dinosaur Tracks By Riverside
Credit: Dinosaur Valley State Park/

The majority of the newly discovered footprints were left by an animal called Acrocanthosaurus, which reached a maximum adult weight of over 7 tons (6,350 kilograms) and stood 15 feet (4.5 meters) tall. There is evidence that another dinosaur, the Sauroposeidon, walked through this park. It reached a height of 60 feet and weighed 44 tons when it reached adulthood.

According to the website for the state park, which is situated in an interior region to the southwest of the city of Dallas, it was once on the rim of an old ocean, and dinosaur footprints have been found in the mud there. Even though the drought had exposed the tracks, there is rain in the forecast, which means that they will most likely be covered up again. According to the statement that is attached to the photographs, this path was “one of the longest dinosaur trackways in the world.”

Susan Kowal
Susan Kowal is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor/advisor, and health enthusiast.