Dinosaur Footprints Go on Display
Dinosaur Footprints Go on Display in Oxfordshire Fossilised dinosaur trackways discovered at a landfill site north of Oxford have gone on display at a new exhibit at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock (Oxon).
The trackways, one of a Theropod (meat-eating, bipedal dinosaur), the second, a set of prints from a large, quadruped herbivore (a Sauropod) had to be moved to protect them and now make up a new "Dinosaur" themed garden at the museum.
Trackways Found at Nearby Quarry The tracks were discovered at the nearby Ardley quarry and landfill site in 1997, team members at Everything Dinosaur reported on the tricky problems of transporting the limestone rock slabs containing the fossilised footprints in an article written last year: Scientists believe that the trackways date to the mid Jurassic and are approximately 160-170 million years old (Aalenian to Bajocian faunal stages), a time when much of southern England was a tropical paradise.
Commenting on the opening of the Dinosaur Garden, Tom Freshwater, of the museum sated that these footprints were very ephemeral, not like the big, robust bones members of the public usually associate with dinosaur fossils.
Footprints and trackways are trace fossils.
Trace fossils preserve evidence of the activity of animals and other organisms.
Unlike body fossils such as bones, most trace fossils are direct evidence of the environment at the time and place the organism existed.
The dinosaur trackways, reveal information about the environment and ecosystem of the mid Jurassic.
The Theropod trackways are particularly interesting, as the space between the prints increases part of the way along the track.
This is an indication that the animal changed its velocity - it broke out into a run.
Tom Freshwater went onto add the quarry workmen were very lucky to find these fleeting imprints.
The tracks at the Ardley quarry site are some of the longest dinosaur tracks found anywhere in the world to date, making them very important.
Tracks made by the Dinosaur Known as Megalosaurus Although scientists cannot be sure, it is believed that the Theropod tracks were made by a Megalosaurus, a fierce, carnivorous dinosaur, fossils of which are associated with this area and rock strata.
Very little is known about European meat-eating dinosaurs of the Jurassic due to the paucity of the fossil record, although Megalosaurus does have the distinction of being the first dinosaur to be studied scientifically and named.
It is just one of a handful of dinosaurs that were known to science before the Class of Dinosauria was established by scientists.
Footprints Placed in a "Jurassic" Garden The carefully re-created "Dinosaur" themed garden depicts a Megalosaurus and contains typical plants that would have comprised part of the flora of the environment at the time the Megalosaurus roamed Oxfordshire.
Sauropod Trackway The Sauropod tracks have been ascribed to a Cetiosaurus, a long-necked dinosaur and primitive member of the Sauropod group.
It is not known whether the Megalosaur was stalking the Cetiosaurus.
Interestingly, Cetiosaurus was one of the first Sauropods to be formerly named and described (Sir Richard Owen, 1842).
As well as sharing the limelight at the Oxfordshire Museum with Megalosaurus, Cetiosaurus has another thing in common with its meat-eating contemporary.
For a long time after Megalosaurus and Cetiosaurus were discovered any fossil remains of a carnivore or long-necked herbivore were ascribed to these genera.
They became known as "taxon wastebaskets".
Only with further study and more fossil material has the Megalosaur/Cetiosaur muddle begun to be unravelled.
The trackways, one of a Theropod (meat-eating, bipedal dinosaur), the second, a set of prints from a large, quadruped herbivore (a Sauropod) had to be moved to protect them and now make up a new "Dinosaur" themed garden at the museum.
Trackways Found at Nearby Quarry The tracks were discovered at the nearby Ardley quarry and landfill site in 1997, team members at Everything Dinosaur reported on the tricky problems of transporting the limestone rock slabs containing the fossilised footprints in an article written last year: Scientists believe that the trackways date to the mid Jurassic and are approximately 160-170 million years old (Aalenian to Bajocian faunal stages), a time when much of southern England was a tropical paradise.
Commenting on the opening of the Dinosaur Garden, Tom Freshwater, of the museum sated that these footprints were very ephemeral, not like the big, robust bones members of the public usually associate with dinosaur fossils.
Footprints and trackways are trace fossils.
Trace fossils preserve evidence of the activity of animals and other organisms.
Unlike body fossils such as bones, most trace fossils are direct evidence of the environment at the time and place the organism existed.
The dinosaur trackways, reveal information about the environment and ecosystem of the mid Jurassic.
The Theropod trackways are particularly interesting, as the space between the prints increases part of the way along the track.
This is an indication that the animal changed its velocity - it broke out into a run.
Tom Freshwater went onto add the quarry workmen were very lucky to find these fleeting imprints.
The tracks at the Ardley quarry site are some of the longest dinosaur tracks found anywhere in the world to date, making them very important.
Tracks made by the Dinosaur Known as Megalosaurus Although scientists cannot be sure, it is believed that the Theropod tracks were made by a Megalosaurus, a fierce, carnivorous dinosaur, fossils of which are associated with this area and rock strata.
Very little is known about European meat-eating dinosaurs of the Jurassic due to the paucity of the fossil record, although Megalosaurus does have the distinction of being the first dinosaur to be studied scientifically and named.
It is just one of a handful of dinosaurs that were known to science before the Class of Dinosauria was established by scientists.
Footprints Placed in a "Jurassic" Garden The carefully re-created "Dinosaur" themed garden depicts a Megalosaurus and contains typical plants that would have comprised part of the flora of the environment at the time the Megalosaurus roamed Oxfordshire.
Sauropod Trackway The Sauropod tracks have been ascribed to a Cetiosaurus, a long-necked dinosaur and primitive member of the Sauropod group.
It is not known whether the Megalosaur was stalking the Cetiosaurus.
Interestingly, Cetiosaurus was one of the first Sauropods to be formerly named and described (Sir Richard Owen, 1842).
As well as sharing the limelight at the Oxfordshire Museum with Megalosaurus, Cetiosaurus has another thing in common with its meat-eating contemporary.
For a long time after Megalosaurus and Cetiosaurus were discovered any fossil remains of a carnivore or long-necked herbivore were ascribed to these genera.
They became known as "taxon wastebaskets".
Only with further study and more fossil material has the Megalosaur/Cetiosaur muddle begun to be unravelled.
