#29 Postcard Trivia 9.11.18
Postcard from the collection of J Garner. Printed by Somervell County Chamber of Commerce.
What was going on in Texas 113 million years ago? According to some pretty amazing evidence, dinosaurs were wandering around the shore of an ocean leaving footprints in the soft limestone mud. Both plant-eating and meat-eating dinosaurs inhabited this area. And they were big! Big enough to leave enormous footprints. The limestone mud had the perfect consistency to preserve the footprints that George Adams discovered along the Paluxy River in 1909. Significant flooding in 1908 caused changes along the river and exposed the footprints of a theropod. In 1937, R.T. Bird discovered multiple tracks from a sauropod (sauroposeidon proteles) along the stony bank. Today, visitors to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Somervell County, Texas, can walk along the riverbank and follow the tracks of ancient dinosaurs. The nearby town of Glen Rose, the Dinosaur Capital of Texas, is home to other attractions and provides hospitality for tourists in the area. I received this fantastic postcard from friends who visited the park this summer. And just to clarify - they did not see a living dinosaur by the river as the photo suggests! The dino in the photo is a life-sized model in the park.
Trivia Question:
Not all of the dinosaur tracks that were discovered in 1937 are still there. What caused them to disappear?
a. exposure to sunlight b. erosion c. vandalism
See answer below.
Answer to Trivia Question:
b. Erosion. Many footprints have been lost due to natural erosion from water and weather events.
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