Wednesday 14 November 2018

Tiny footprints, big discovery: Reptile tracks oldest ever found in Grand Canyon


Geologist investigating 310 million-year-old fossil trackway from ancient reptilian creature
Date:  November 8, 2018
Source:  University of Nevada, Las Vegas
A geology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has discovered that a set of 28 footprints left behind by a reptile-like creature 310 million years ago, are the oldest ever to be found in Grand Canyon National Park.
The fossil trackway covers a fallen boulder that now rests along the Bright Angel Trail in the national park. Rowland presented his findings at the recent annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
"It's the oldest trackway ever discovered in the Grand Canyon in an interval of rocks that nobody thought would have trackways in it, and they're among the earliest reptile tracks on earth," said Rowland.
Rowland said he's not prepared to say that they're the oldest tracks of their kind ever discovered, but it's a possibility, as he's still researching the discovery.
"In terms of reptile tracks, this is really old," he said, adding that the tracks were created as the supercontinent Pangaea was beginning to form.
Rowland was first alerted to the tracks in spring 2016 by a colleague who was hiking the trail with a group of students. The boulder ended up along the trail after the collapse of a cliff.
A year later, Rowland studied the footprints up close.
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