Tracks preserved in floodplain deposits in Passagem das Pedra, Brazil. They’re from ornithopods, a family of herbivores during the Cretaceous period.Credit...Ismar de Souza Carvalho
The New York Times has a story about dinosaur trackways. Ordinarily, dinosaur trackways separated by 3,700 miles wouldn't attract much attention. However, these 120 million year old footprints sit on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and may reveal clues about when South America and Africa were newly split. New research published in the journal the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin discusses the implications.
According to the study, the Borborema Plateau in northeastern Brazil and the Koum Basin in northern Cameroon both contain similar geological structures that preserved dinosaur prints.
The footprints discovered in those areas were similar in age, shape and geological context, said Dr. Louis L. Jacobs, a paleontologist at Southern Methodist University in Texas and the study’s lead author.
It is not surprising to make similar discoveries in regions that were once connected, Dr. Jacobs said, but the dinosaur tracks help us understand the geologic history of a region that broke apart millions of years ago.
The paper shows a “specific place at a specific time with specific climatic conditions and environmental conditions” that can help demonstrate how animals may have moved across the stretch of land between Cameroon and Brazil before Gondwana broke apart, Dr. Jacobs said.
