Scientists have discovered and documented the largest known single dinosaur track site in Alaska. The site, located in Denali National Park and Preserve, has been dubbed 'The Coliseum' by researchers.
University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists have discovered and documented the largest known single dinosaur track site in Alaska. The site, located in Denali National Park and Preserve, has been dubbed"The Coliseum" by researchers.
"When our colleagues first visited the site, they saw a dinosaur trackway at the base of this massive cliff," said Pat Druckenmiller, senior author of the paper and director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North."When we first went out there, we didn't see much either." In the Late Cretaceous Period, the cliffs that make up The Coliseum were sediment on flat ground near what was likely a watering hole on a large flood plain. As Earth's tectonic plates collided and buckled to form the Alaska Range, the formerly flat ground folded and tilted vertically, exposing the cliffs covered with tracks.The tracks are a mix of hardened impressions in the ancient mud and casts of tracks created when sediment filled the tracks and then hardened.
Based on the tracks, a variety of juvenile to adult dinosaurs frequented the area over thousands of years. Most common were large plant-eating duck-billed and horned dinosaurs. The team also documented rarer carnivores, including raptors and tyrannosaurs, as well as small wading birds.Every year, thousands of people visit Denali National Park and Preserve to experience the stunning natural landscape and environment, Druckenmiller said.
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