Arkansas: 2-feet long footprints found

From The Nation: 2-feet long footprints found
RESEARCHERS at the University of Arkansas are studying a new field of fossilised dinosaur tracks, including one set which appears to be from a large three-toed predator.
The tracks were found on private land in south-west Arkansas and provide a window into the lifeforms which roamed the area as long as 120 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period. Researchers say the dinosaurs who left them probably included giant predators, such as Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, an early cousin of T Rex.

There are also large, long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs such as Pleurocoelus and Paluxysaurus, who may have been easy prey. ‘The quality of the tracks and the length of the trackways make this an important site,’ said Stephen K Boss, who led the project. The research effort is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Based on the rock in which the footprints were found, researchers have a good idea of what the climate would have been like, Mr Boss said.

‘Picture an environment much like that of the shores of the Persian Gulf today. The air temperature was hot. The water was shallow and very salty,’ he said. ‘It was a harsh environment. We’re not sure what the animals were doing here, but clearly they were here in some abundance.’ Some of the tracks in the field have not been documented before in Arkansas. The researchers’ work will expand knowledge about dinosaurs which roamed the area and the climate during the period.