A large find of dinosaur tracks and fossilized plants and tree stumps in far northwestern Alaska provides new information about the climate and movement of animals near the time when they began traveling between the Asian and North American continents roughly 100 million years ago.
The findings by an international team of scientists led by paleontologist Anthony Fiorillo were published Jan. 30 in the journal. Fiorillo researched in Alaska while at Southern Methodist University. He is now executive director of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.
Research into the paleoclimate can help scientists understand the warming world of today, the authors write. In the area, Fiorillo and McCarthy found approximately 75 fossil tracks and other indicators attributed to dinosaurs living in a riverine or delta setting."We were at a spot where we eventually realized that for at least 400 yards we were walking on an ancient landscape," he said."On that landscape we found large upright trees with little trees in between and leaves on the ground. We had tracks on the ground and fossilized feces.
Two-legged plant eaters accounted for 59% of the total tracks discovered. Four-legged plant eaters accounted for 17%, with birds accounting for 15% and non-avian, mostly carnivorous, bipedal dinosaurs at 9%.The authors point out that nearly half of North America's shorebirds breed in the warm months of today's Arctic. They suggest that the high number of fossil bird tracks along the Kukpowruk River indicates the warm paleoclimate was a similar driver for Cretaceous Period birds.
Of note is that the Alaska site investigated by Fiorillo and McCarthy was about 10 to 15 degrees latitude farther north in the mid-Cretaceous than it is today.
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