Moutai Town is The Hometown of Dinosaurs! ?

A large-scale Dinosaur footprint group was discovered in Maotai Town, Renhuai City, Guizhou Province. According to reports, this footprint group is the largest sauropod footprint group in the early Jurassic in my country, and is of great significance to understanding the distribution and evolution of the early Jurassic dinosaur fauna in my country.

The discovery of these footprints was purely accidental. Xing Lida, a dinosaur footprint scientist in charge of the identification work and an associate professor at China University of Geosciences (Beijing), told reporters. In 2013, when an enterprise on the Chishui River in Maotai Town was constructing a workshop, considering that the rock formation on the side slope behind it was not strong enough, it was opposite. The slope was cleaned up. When it was cleaned to the lower half of a meter, a complete rock surface was found, with hard texture, many bumps, and imprints of different depths. In the summer of 2017, employees of the company saw a report of dinosaur footprints in Xishui County, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province Later, I thought that the pit in the back mountain might be some kind of footprint, and contacted experts in many ways to compare relevant information.

Diplodocus

Xing Lida said that seeing the photos provided locally, he believed that these footprints were left by typical early Jurassic sauropod dinosaurs. Regional geological maps also showed that these footprints came from the stratum 170 to 180 million years ago. . So he contacted experts and scholars from Zigong Dinosaur Museum and other units to form an expedition team to investigate in Guizhou.

It is understood that sauropod dinosaurs are a famous branch of dinosaurs, found on all continents, including Antarctica. They are characterized by small heads, long necks, long tails and thick limbs. Sauropod dinosaurs are the largest animals known to have appeared on land, including brontosaurus, brachiosaurus, and Diplodocus.

Scholars believe that the early Jurassic dinosaur footprints are particularly rare. There are only four early Jurassic sauropod footprints in China, which are not very ideal. There are problems such as inconvenient transportation, severe weathering, and scarcity. The footprints are newly exposed and are very well preserved. The number is as high as 200. It has very important scientific research value. It also shows that the Maotai area was a very suitable place for dinosaurs during the Dinosaur Period.

According to reports, at present, the survey team has basically completed the measurement and photography of all dinosaur footprints, and specific research work is proceeding in an orderly manner. In time, scholars will surely reveal the secrets behind this footprint community.