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Matching dinosaur footprints found on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean
https://phys.org/news/2024-08-dinosaur-footprints-sides-atlantic-ocean.html
An international team of researchers led by SMU paleontologist Louis L. Jacobs has found matching sets of Early Cretaceous dinosaur footprints on what are now two different continents.
More than 260 footprints were discovered in Brazil and in Cameroon, showing where land-dwelling dinosaurs were last able to freely cross between South America and Africa millions of years ago before the two continents split apart.
"We determined that in terms of age, these footprints were similar," Jacobs said. "In their geological and plate tectonic contexts, they were also similar. In terms of their shapes, they are almost identical."
The footprints, impressed into mud and silt along ancient rivers and lakes, were found more than 3,700 miles, or 6,000 kilometers, away from each other. Dinosaurs made the tracks 120 million years ago on a single supercontinent known as Gondwana—which broke off from the larger landmass of Pangea, Jacobs said.
More than 260 footprints were discovered in Brazil and in Cameroon, showing where land-dwelling dinosaurs were last able to freely cross between South America and Africa millions of years ago before the two continents split apart.
"We determined that in terms of age, these footprints were similar," Jacobs said. "In their geological and plate tectonic contexts, they were also similar. In terms of their shapes, they are almost identical."
The footprints, impressed into mud and silt along ancient rivers and lakes, were found more than 3,700 miles, or 6,000 kilometers, away from each other. Dinosaurs made the tracks 120 million years ago on a single supercontinent known as Gondwana—which broke off from the larger landmass of Pangea, Jacobs said.
Alternative version: The holy spirit was pretty damn busy 6,000 years ago.
17 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I wonder if Jesus was riding it. 
Inquiring minds want to know.
This article contains a bit more information. An excerpt:
Red stars within this graphic mark the route once taken by dinosaurs when the South American and African continents were connected. (Southern Methodist University via CNN Newsource)
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“Dinosaur tracks are not rare, but unlike the bones usually found, footprints are the proof of dinosaur behavior, how they walked, ran or otherwise, who they walked with, what environment they walked through, what direction they were going, and where they were when they were doing it,” Jacobs said.
It’s difficult to tell the specific species of dinosaurs that traveled along the basins, but they represent a larger portrait of the ancient climate and how different types of animals thrived in the environment that the continental rifting created.
“If your dog and a coyote walk across the same mudflat, you might know that two dog critters walked there, that they are very similar, but you may not be able to know if they are different species. Ditto the dinosaur track situation,” Jacobs said. “All animals have home ranges. All animals expand their ranges. All animals exploit resources as necessary depending on availability, often related to seasonality. Herbivores follow nutritious plants; carnivores follow their herbivorous food.”
...
As research into the basins in Africa and South America has continued in the following decades, Jacobs and Carvalho and their colleagues reviewed existing and new fieldwork and research to analyze the matching aspects. The new study is being published in tribute to Lockley, who devoted his career to studying dinosaur footprints.
...
Red stars within this graphic mark the route once taken by dinosaurs when the South American and African continents were connected. (Southern Methodist University via CNN Newsource)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
...
“Dinosaur tracks are not rare, but unlike the bones usually found, footprints are the proof of dinosaur behavior, how they walked, ran or otherwise, who they walked with, what environment they walked through, what direction they were going, and where they were when they were doing it,” Jacobs said.
It’s difficult to tell the specific species of dinosaurs that traveled along the basins, but they represent a larger portrait of the ancient climate and how different types of animals thrived in the environment that the continental rifting created.
“If your dog and a coyote walk across the same mudflat, you might know that two dog critters walked there, that they are very similar, but you may not be able to know if they are different species. Ditto the dinosaur track situation,” Jacobs said. “All animals have home ranges. All animals expand their ranges. All animals exploit resources as necessary depending on availability, often related to seasonality. Herbivores follow nutritious plants; carnivores follow their herbivorous food.”
...
As research into the basins in Africa and South America has continued in the following decades, Jacobs and Carvalho and their colleagues reviewed existing and new fieldwork and research to analyze the matching aspects. The new study is being published in tribute to Lockley, who devoted his career to studying dinosaur footprints.
...
