Recently, a staff member of Shaanxi Yanchang Oilfield found dinosaur footprint fossils during geological exploration in Ansai Oil District, Yan'an City, and this unexpected discovery has been verified by domestic paleontological experts on site, which is also the first case report of dinosaur footprint fossils found in Yan'an City.
In August 2020, when three employees of the Exploration Department of Yanchang Petroleum Xingzichuan Oil Production Plant went out to explore the characteristics of the outcrops in the oil area, they inadvertently found suspected claw-shaped footprints in the exposed formation near The Longquan Temple in Anse Majiagou. Through the consultation of relevant literature and comparative analysis, it was preliminarily judged to be a fossil of dinosaur active footprints, which was produced at the top of the upper section of the Gira Formation in the middle and late Middle Jurassic.
Subsequently, the three people of Yanchang Oilfield jointly signed a scientific research paper entitled "Shaanxi Ansai first discovered the footprints of dinosaurs in the late Jurassic period", which was submitted to the "Geological Bulletin" magazine. After careful study of the article, the expert group of China University of Geosciences believed that the content reported in the article was most likely a sign of newly discovered dinosaur activity, and then sent someone to the site to investigate.
Associate Professor Xing Lida, an expert in paleontology research at China University of Geosciences, confirmed the authenticity of dinosaur fossils on the spot based on 8 fossil shapes and geological shaping factors at 6 observation points, and preliminarily judged that the fossil footprints were left by large carnivorous theropod dinosaurs, and that the dinosaur species needed further research and analysis, and also confirmed that there were many paleontological relics such as turtle relic fossils, insect traces, and biological submerged caves.
This discovery further expands the distribution range of dinosaur footprints in the Jurassic period in the Ordos Basin, and combines the remains of dinosaur activity that have been found in the Yulin area, which is conducive to the study of Jurassic paleobial diversity and dinosaur activity trajectory in northern Shaanxi, which is of great guiding significance for the paleontological research of the Ordos Basin and the restoration of sedimentary paleogeography.
At present, the local government has protected the site and waited for further study and investigation by the expert group.
(Video source: Shaanxi News)