The Junggar Basin has found the world's largest Asian footprint, yes, dinosaurs

Wang Xiaolin's team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made the latest research progress in the newly discovered theropod dinosaur footprints in the Junggar Basin of Xinjiang: the newly discovered large and medium-sized dinosaur footprints are classified into the Asian footprint genus, and the large footprints have also established a new species, the Niu's Asian footprint, which is also known as the world's largest Asian footprint.

Researcher Wang Xiaolin said in an interview with reporters through the Network on the 4th that the discovery and research of the Urhe Pterodactyl fauna in the Junggar Basin of Xinjiang began in the 1960s. Since 2006, he has led the scientific expedition team of the Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to investigate the Mesozoic paleontology and strata of the Tuha Basin and the Junggar Basin in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang for more than ten years, and found a large number of footprint fossils such as early Cretaceous Hami pterosaur fauna and symbiotic pterosaurs, dinosaurs, birds and other footprints in the Hami Basin, and in Urhe and adjacent areas at the northwest edge of the Junggar Basin, in addition to the abundant fossils of pterosaurs and dinosaurs, a large number of pterosaurs, dinosaurs and other fossils were found in multiple layers. The footprint fossil group composed of bird and turtle footprints greatly enriches the fossil types and composition of the fauna. In addition to the systematic morphological description of the newly discovered theropod dinosaur footprints, this study also briefly analyzes the individual size, behavior habits and paleoenvironmental background of the footprint formation of the trace dinosaurs.

Wang Xiaolin's team's paper on the new discovery of theropod dinosaur footprints and research progress in the early Cretaceous Urhe pterosaur fauna in the Junggar Basin of Xinjiang has recently been published online by the academic journal Science Bulletin. Li Yang, the first author of the paper and a doctoral student, introduced that the newly discovered theropod dinosaur footprints were preserved on the gray-green fine-grained sandstone layer of about 12 meters long and 7 meters wide and about 80 square meters in an area of about 80 square meters, and the strata were close to the level. The fossil footprint layer has two layers, the upper layer preserves 6 footprints, and the lower level only reveals 7 footprints (most of which are covered by the upper layer), forming a total of 3 tracks and 4 isolated footprints.

Through detailed observation and study of footprints and track characteristics, the research team identified two types of three-toed footprints: large footprints with a total length of 47-56 cm, width of 31-42 cm, single step length of 164-180 cm, compound step length of 328-336 cm; medium footprints are about half smaller than large footprints, with a total footprint length of 21-27 cm and a width of 18-20 cm. From the analysis of the size and morphological characteristics of the footprints, both footprint types belong to the Asian footprint genus. Since the large footprint is different from the two species of the known Asian footprint genus, a new species of the Asian footprint genus, the Niu's Asian Footprint, was established, and the species name was given to Niu Chunwang, the main discoverer of the footprint. This new Asian footprint species is about 1.5 times larger than the largest known Asian footprint, and is currently the largest type of Asian footprint in the world. Medium-sized footprints are classified as known as the Heel Pad Asia Footprint.

Li Yang said that according to the formula of academic experience, the hip height of niu's Asian footprint dinosaur is about 2.3 meters high and the body length is nearly 6 meters, which belongs to the large theropod dinosaurs. The hip height of the Heel Pad Asian Footprint Dinosaur is about 1 meter high and the body length is about 2.5 meters. Further estimation of the walking speed of the dinosaur shows that the walking speed of the ox's Asian footprint and the trailing dinosaur with the Asian footprint are about 8 km and 6.5 km/h, respectively. At the same time, based on the symmetrical wave marks, insect traces and complete preservation of footprint (track) fossils preserved at the footprint level, the research team deduced that the newly discovered footprint fossils were formed by two types of traced dinosaurs walking in the lakeside environment.

It is understood that the Asian footprint genus representing the theropod dinosaur footprint type was first discovered in the Lower Cretaceous strata in Japan in 2005, and the model species is the Heel Pad Asian Footprint. Chinese scholars have previously found rich Asian footprints in the Lower Cretaceous strata of Inner Mongolia, and sporadically in the Lower Cretaceous strata of Hebei and Shandong, but poorly preserved.

Column Editor-in-Chief: Zhang Wu Text Editor: Wu Honghao Title Image Source: Visual China Image Editor: Xu Jiamin