Many parts of Texas are experiencing severe drought (though not quite as severe as the b*tch that was the 2011 drought). As a result of these exceptionally dry conditions, a certain riverbed in Dinosaur Valley State Park has run dry, exposing previously undiscovered dinosaur tracks that are roughly 113 million years old. How is this possible—like, how have they not been eroded by the river? Water is pretty excellent at eroding rock, especially over the course of 113 million years. On the one hand, I do understand that most likely the river has not been there as long as the dinosaur tracks have been, but on the other hand (1) we actually don’t know this for sure, and (2) even if it has been there for less time than the tracks have been, there certainly has still been ample time to erode them away. What am I missing here?
[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjWsazb4t_5AhXRk2oFHVUIBawQvOMEKAB6BAgGEAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2022%2F08%2F23%2Fus%2Fdinosaur-tracks-discovered-texas-park%2Findex.html&usg=AOvVaw2co9awHFuiD-qAeMOP5DNk](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjWsazb4t_5AhXRk2oFHVUIBawQvOMEKAB6BAgGEAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2022%2F08%2F23%2Fus%2Fdinosaur-tracks-discovered-texas-park%2Findex.html&usg=AOvVaw2co9awHFuiD-qAeMOP5DNk)
*EDIT/UPDATE: Aha! It now makes sense. It turns out that these particular dinosaur tracks were first discovered in 1908, when a layer of rock that had been covering the tracks broke up and washed away due to a flood. In the time since then, there have been multiple paleontological excavations that have revealed even more of the tracks. And the most important thing to know here—the thing that ties it all together and makes everything “click”—the River* ***has*** *been eroding the prints ever since the first tracks got exposed in 1908. It’s just that obviously on a geological timescale, the 114 years between 1908 and now are just a tiny, minuscule blip in the grand scheme of things… nowhere near long enough for the tracks to have been eroded. So it all makes sense, knowing that the river has only been eroding the tracks for 114 years instead of 113 million years.*
*Source:* [*https://www.nps.gov/…/nature/making-dino-prints.htm…*](https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/nature/making-dino-prints.htm?fbclid=IwAR3MZ-SQHiJg8uZ7LEjeSZTNgE705yDE4x54VFmrHZgGdySHhI5kLdXgcO4#:~:text=When%20dinosaurs%20walked%20through%20the,where%20people%20can%20see%20them)
In: 1541
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Fossils are the result of extreme coincidences. That’s why we’ll never know that whole species and evolution phases of species existed… because their number wasn’t that great to allow for such coincidences to happen 🙂
The asteroid that nearly wiped out life on earth also caused catastrophic upheavals to the land, thrusting up the miles high mountain ranges. Many swamps or marshes were suddenly high and dried by temperatures hundreds of degrees. Some foot prints are found on vertical walls.
But even “normal” earthquake activity causes some beaches to lift a few feet and dry out. Other areas suddenly get swamped and you have a former forest now drowned tree stumps
People have given good answers for how these particular footprints have survived. I’m going to approach from the angle of probability.
Over 180 million years, billions (or trillions) of dinosaurs left trillions (or more) of footprints. A tiny fraction of those were left in places that over the course of 60–250M years preserved the prints through a variety of geological and hydrological forces and remained or became visible and accessible to humans.
Tl;Dr – Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut. Paleontologists are much better at pattern recognition than blind squirrels and know where to look for fossils/prints.
So, this park is one I’ve camped at many times specifically for the geology & dino fun, and I do feel the need to say that the “newness” is kinda subjective. It’s just the first time these specific prints were cleaned up and observed up close. You can see many probable shapes up and down the Paluxy River that park staff know about and even suggest to the adventuring hiker but aren’t officially marked on the park map, but these shapes are usually filled with clay, gravel, sand, etc. so all you see is a general indentation.
The type of rock that makes up Dinosaur Valley SP is so susceptible to erosion that a set of tracks taken and given to the University of Texas and kept outside became seriously degraded due to rainwater.
Fluid flow dynamics where fluid wall velocity equals zero. So, a unless an obstacle is in the path of the fluid like the bottom of a river bed, minimal erosion will occur.
Its not millions of years it happened within last 5000 years after the great flood, the last of the surviving dinos made those footprints while everything was still settling down from all the techthonik movements after the flood, and while the water was backing up.. go watch Kent Hoving age of the earth.. some real science and real geology not this mainstream lies, get out of the matrix, thank me later.
BTW, they are way underwater again. 12″ of rain in a day made sure of that. Those were exposed in 2011 too…
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