Palaeontologists Discover Thousands of Dinosaur Footprints Along The Yukon River, Alaska

A team of paleontologists has uncovered a treasure trove of dinosaur footprint fossils along the banks of Alaskan River. The dinosaur footprint bearing rocks are about 25-30 million years old.

The team of researchers from the University of Alaska Museum, underwent a 500 mile journey across the Tanana and Yukon riverbanks before discovering thousands of small and big dino tracks that are expected to belong to both meat and plant-eating dinosaurs. With this amazing find, the team has netted a ton of dino footprints for the museum's collection.

"We found a great diversity of dinosaur types," Druckenmiller says, "evidence of an extinct ecosystem we never knew existed," Earth Sciences Curator Pat Druckenmiller said in a statement.

According to Discovery, the fossilized footprints are expected to be some 25-30 million years older than the first footprint that was discovered in 2005 in the Denali National Park, Alaska, estimated to be up to 70 million years old.

"We found dinosaur footprints by the scores on literally every outcrop we stopped at.  I've seen dinosaur footprints in Alaska now in rocks from southwest Alaska, the North Slope, and Denali National Park in the Interior, but there aren't many places where footprints occur in such abundance," said PaulMcCarthy, Department of Geology and Geophysics- University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The abundant tracks made it possible for the researchers to spot collect nearly 50 specimens in a span of ten minutes.  According to Druckenmiller, dinosaur tracks along Yukon River remained unexplored due to the way the tacks were preserved.

The newly discovered tracks were preserved in the form of  natural casts that were created when sand gathered in the actual footprint once the animal had stepped in mud. The foot-prints stick out from the rocks, appearing like blobs with toes.

"If there's a big storm and the footprint is covered in clay blown from the hillside, it will cover the footprint," Mark Norell, the head of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History was quoted in ABC News. After it hardens over millions of years, the clay molding ends up capturing what the foot itself looked like. "It's like you're seeing the animal's foot while it was alive."

This discovery is significant as the Yukon River fossils are geologically older compared to other sites in the state and they hold a treasure of a record of dinosaurs that has remained unknown in the state. The team plans on returning to the site conducting further studies.

The team plans on further exploring the region for dinosaur tracks.