Scientists describe treasure trove of dinosaur tracks in Australia

Dubbed 'Australia’s Jurassic Park,' a 15-mile stretch of Dampier Peninsula coastline boasts an unprecedented 21 different types of dinosaur tracks.

The dinosaur with the largest footprint to date roamed the Australian coast some 100 million years ago, according to new findings from an area dubbed "Australia's Jurassic Park." 

Researchers from the University of Queensland’s School of Biological Sciences and James Cook University’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences uncovered 21 different types of tracks along a 15 mile stretch of the Dampier Peninsula in western Australia. They spent more than 400 hours over five years documenting thousands of tracks, and published their findings Friday.

What they found was evidence of the most diverse dinosaur community ever discovered.

It is extremely significant, forming the primary record of non-avian dinosaurs in the western half the continent and providing the only glimpse of Australia’s dinosaur fauna during the first half of the Early Cretaceous Period,” Steve Salisbury, the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “It’s such a magical place – Australia’s own Jurassic Park, in a spectacular wilderness setting,” Dr. Salisbury said.

That includes five types tracks of predatory dinosaur, six types from armored dinosaurs, the first evidence of stegosaurus ever found in Australia, and a the largest ever footprint, measuring 1.7 meters, or more than 5.5 feet long. Researchers estimate the tracks are between 90 million and 115 million years old.

In 2008, the aboriginal people of Western Australia's Kimberley region became concerned about the possible development of a liquid natural gas facility. They asked researchers, including Dr. Salisbury, who is a lecturer at University of Queensland, to document the tracks as part of their fight against the facility’s construction.

For the indigenous group of people known as the Goolarabooloo, the tracks represent more than just a piece of history. They believe the footprints are those of their creator spirit Marrala, also known as the Emu Man.

The prints have played a role in the group’s oral history.

“We needed the world to see what was at stake,” Goolarabooloo senior law boss Phillip Roe said in the statement. “Marala was the Lawgiver. He gave country the rules we need to follow. How to behave, to keep things in balance.”

“It’s great to work with UQ researchers,” he added. “We learnt a lot from them and they learnt a lot from us.”

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Scientists describe treasure trove of dinosaur tracks in Australia
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2017/0327/Scientists-describe-treasure-trove-of-dinosaur-tracks-in-Australia
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe