Dinosaur tracks in Texas revealed after river dries up

Human remains at Lake Mead aren’t the only thing from the past being discovered as the 22-year megadrought continues in the Southwest.

Dinosaur tracks at Dinosaur Valley State Park near Glen Rose, Texas, have been uncovered after the Paluxy River that normally flows through the park went dry.

Tracks that are usually covered in shallow water, dirt and silt are now visible on a site in the southeastern portion of the park, according to a Facebook post from Dinosaur Valley. The tracks belonged to a dinosaur in the theropod class, according to the park worker who posted the video.

“These are normally underwater, so you don’t usually get to see these,” the worker said in the video.

According to the park’s website, theropod tracks found in the park are believed to be from the Acrocanthosaurus, a carnivorous dinosaur that lived over 100 million years ago.

Work is ongoing at the park. Volunteers are cleaning and mapping tracks discovered at the park.

This discovery follows the publication of a paper on the unique-to-Nevada dinosaur Nevadadromeus schmitti in June in the Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science that made the dinosaur official to the scientific community. The fossil was discovered in 2008 in Valley of Fire State Park.

Contact Taylor Lane at tlane@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tmflane on Twitter.