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Discover Dinosaur Tracks
Hidden among the boulders and rocks in Parowan Gap are fragile footprints left in the mud -- 65 to 75 million years ago. Discover the tracks the dinosaurs left behind.
Tracks leave behind clues to an animal's life history -- where it lived, whether the animal was large or small, predator or prey, etc. Most of the footprints in Parowan Gap have three toes and resemble giant bird feet. These dinosaurs, known as hadrosaurs, have been nick-named "duck-billed" dinosaurs because of their horny, toothless beaks. In reality, they lived very similar lives to the modern cow or buffalo, grazing the plentiful plants and shrubs of the Cretaceous Period.
Hadrosaurs were the most plentiful dinosaur species in North America of their time, spending most of their days eating and grazing. Most weighed a few tons and were 10 to 40 feet long. They had a thousand small teeth for grinding plant life and a long tail to help them balance. Like other plant-eaters, hadrosaurs were hunted by the meat-eaters and may have been easy targets because they moved slowly. Although they typically grazed on four legs, archeologists believe they were capable of clumsily running away from predators on two feet.
Preservation
The dinosaur tracks are quite delicate. Even though they are made of rock, they can break and are subject to vandalism. Below is a picture of the same hadrosaur track in 2010 and then in 2011. By 2011, someone had broken off a piece of the track and removed it from the area. Through this careless act, a once great record of the past is lost forever.
How These Tracks are Formed
As the dinosaurs walked through the mud they left footprints. These footprints would eventually fill with pebbles and sand, and over time harden into rock. Over millions of years erosion brings these rocks to the surface where we can see them today.
Geology
Fifteen million years ago, a ridge began to rise as a result of the parallel fault movement in southern Utah. At the same time, a stream running perpendicular to the ridge, eroded the rock -- cutting a path that eventually became a narrow valley. The ridge continued to rise and the climate in Southern Utah became more arid and dry. Eventually, the stream dried up and was replaced by wind whipping through the valley, which continued to erode the steep cliffs, forming a canyon (600 feet deep) known today as the Parowan Gap. Many of the rocks in the gap are a conglomerate, primarily round river rock and volcanic ash. This unique geological history exposed ancient dinosaur tracks and created a canvas for thousands of years of Native American petroglyphs. |