Acrocanthosaurus

2022 - 8 - 24

Post cover — Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Dinosaur tracks revealed in Texas as severe drought dries up river (The Guardian)

Multiple footprints belonging to the Acrocanthosaurus dinosaur and dating back over 100m years discovered in bed of Paluxy River.

[extreme drought](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/16/drastic-water-cuts-expected-as-megadrought-grips-western-us-states), an escalating consequence of climate change. [according to the park’s website](https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/dinosaur-valley). [in an email to CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/us/dinosaur-tracks-discovered-texas-park/). Prints from the Acrocanthosaurus dinosaur were uncovered in the almost entirely dried-up Paluxy River. [the BBC reported](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62653451). [to NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/drought-reveals-new-dinosaur-tracks-texas-rcna44533).

Texas Drought Exposes Dinosaur Tracks (The New York Times)

Dinosaur Valley State Park is home to Acrocanthosaurus and Sauroposeidon tracks. The temporarily dry Paluxy River allowed researchers to discover more.

Greg Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to [mobilize resources to help residents](https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-increases-readiness-level-of-state-emergency-operations-center-for-flood-response) affected by the flooding. [saw more than 13 inches of rain](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/22/dallas-flooding-fort-worth/) Sunday into Monday, leading Judge Clay Jenkins of Dallas County, the top elected official there, to declare a state of disaster in the region. [No more Choco Tacos](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/business/choco-taco-klondike-discontinued.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-extreme-weather&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc). “Texas is blessed with a lot of good fossil occurrences,” Mr. [Record-breaking floods](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/us/flash-flooding-st-louis-missouri.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-extreme-weather&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc). The river and park have been educating researchers on dinosaur behavior for decades, he said. As the river erodes, it will expose more but also erase some others. Jacobs said the prints signaled there might be more that remained undiscovered. This summer has left many Americans with only one option: [surrender](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/us/heat-records-summer-climate.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-extreme-weather&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc). “Due to the excessive drought conditions this past summer, the river dried up completely in most locations, allowing for more tracks to be uncovered here in the park,” Ms. The tracks are likely to be buried again by rain this week. The tracks, which were discovered this month, belong to Acrocanthosaurus, which are theropods, or bipedal dinosaurs with three toes and claws on each limb.

Tracks from huge dinosaurs revealed as river dries up (TweakTown)

Newly uncovered dinosaur tracks have been exposed in a river bed in Texas' Dinosaur Valley State Park, belonging to the Acrocanthosaurus and Sauroposeidon.

Garcia anticipates that as the drought eases and the forecasted rain returns, the water level in the river will rise again, burying the tracks. Stephanie Salinas Garcia of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department explained that the extreme drought conditions of the past summer have dried up the river in many locations, allowing more tracks to be uncovered throughout the park. These dinosaurs, whose fossils were discovered across Texas, Wyoming, and Oklahoma, dated between 113 and 100 million years old, would have roamed the oceanside, leaving their tracks in the mud.

113-million-year-old dinosaur tracks revealed by Texas drought, but ... (CBC.ca)

A severe drought in Texas has offered a rare sighting of some ancient dinosaur tracks preserved in stone for about 113 million years.

The Sauroposeidon is a type of sauropod dinosaur, whose tracks are large and elephant-like. "They are under mud and water most of the time. feeling those claw marks underneath the water and seeing them."

Dinosaur Park footprints: how old are Acrocanthosaurus tracks, why ... (NationalWorld)

Get all of the latest Offbeat news from NationalWorld. Providing fresh perspective online for news across the UK.

Even if the water levels are low, the tracks tend to be covered in a layer of mud and silt. A series of footprints belonging to one Acrocanthosaurus have been discovered in the Usually, the Paluxy River covers up most of the footprints in the Dinosaur Valley State Park. Its elephant-like tracks have been identified at the Texas national park where the Acrocanthosaurus footprints have been discovered. It is likely to have hunted the Sauroposeidon - a 44-tonnes long-necked herbivore that may have been able to grow to 34-metres (112-feet) long. [According to the Natural History Museum](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/acrocanthosaurus.html), the Acrocanthosaurus was a 12-metre (39-feet) long carnivorous dinosaur that lived between 115 million and 105 million years ago.

Dinosaur tracks unearthed in Texas state park as drought dries river (FOX 29 Philadelphia)

Newly uncovered dinosaur tracks at Texas's Dinosaur Valley State Park date back to 113 million years ago.

(Dinosaur Valley State Park ) (Friends of Dinosaur Valley State Park ) Meanwhile, they said an adult Sauroposeidon stood about 60 feet tall and weighed about 44 tons. "Under normal river conditions, these newer tracks are underwater and are commonly filled in with sediment, making them buried and not as visible." The park is located near Glen Rose, southwest of Dallas. The tracks were uncovered in the Paluxy River at Dinosaur Valley State Park as its water level receded due to extreme drought conditions.

Dinosaur tracks from 113 million years ago revealed after severe ... (Globalnews.ca)

The prints, found in Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas, were located as widespread drought caused water to dry up completely in certain areas.

[most of Texas is in a drought](https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?TX), according to the U.S. This month, even more [human remains](https://globalnews.ca/news/9044103/lake-mead-human-remains-fourth-body/) were also found there. In 2021, Earth was about 1.1 degrees warmer than it was when the Industrial Revolution was underway. Europe’s second-longest river, the Danube, has also recently reached its lowest water level in nearly a century. The Sauroposeidon was over The Acrocanthosaurus roamed the park 113 million years ago.