Sunday 18 October 2020

Dinosaur trackway discovered beneath reservoir in Argentina.

A Dinosaur trackway has been discovered in an area usually covered by the waters of a reservoir in Neuquen Province, Argentina. The footprints were discovered by officers of the Argentine Naval Prefecture while on patrol on the shores of Lake Ramos Mexia in Villa El Chocon, an artificial lake created by the El Chocon Hydroelectric Dam. The footprints are in an area where they would usually be covered by the waters of the lake, but have been exposed by low water levels caused by a prolonged drought in Argentina. Following the discovery, the officers contacted scientists at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, and Ernesto Bachmann Paleontological Museum, who hope to arrange an expedition to study the footprints.

 
Officers of the Argentine Naval Prefecture inspecting a Dinosaur trackway revealed by subsiding waters at Lake Ramos Mexia in Villa El Chocon. Prefectura Naval Argentina/Real Press.

The footprints are found within the Candeleros Formation, which has been dated to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, i.e. between 96 and 100 million years old. They are thought to have been created by an Iguanodontid Dinosaur about six metres in length and about three metres high at the shoulder.

 
One of the footprints revealed by the subsiding waters of Lake Ramos Mexia in Villa El Chocon. Prefectura Naval Argentina/Real Press.

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