Paleontologists from the University of Alaska Museum of the North found thousands of dinosaur footprint fossils along the banks of Alaskan River that reportedly date back to more than 30 million years.
Earlier last month, a team of researchers from the University of Alaska Museum undertook a 500-mile trek alongside the Tanana and Yukon Rivers. They were surprised to come across an abundance of dinosaur footprints and were able to bring back more than 2,000 footprint fossils.
"We found dinosaur footprints by the scores on literally every outcrop we stopped at," Paul McCarthy, of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said. "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."
What was even more astounding for the scientists was that the footprints were found on the rocks rather than being imprinted into them.
"If there's a big storm and the footprint is covered in clay blown from the hillside, it will cover the footprint," he told 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."
Researchers believe that the newly discovered footprint fossils date back to over 30 million years. They were able to determine at least 50 specimens in as little as 10 minutes. The new discovery also helped researchers become aware of ecosystems they never knew existed.
Though such discoveries (may be not to this extent) are not uncommon in the United States, the Alaska region has been left highly unexplored. While this discovery may not be ground-breaking but it is important as researchers are keen on finding out how many more diversities of dinosaurs can be added to the present list.
This is however, not the first major fossil discovery in Alaska. In 2005, researchers discovered similar dinosaur footprints in the Denali National Park, many of which were considered to be roughly 65 million to 80 million years old from the late Cretaceous period.
