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Dinosaur Life in Alaska 100 Million Years Ago. PHOTO/DAILY
JAKARTA – An extraordinary discovery has occurred in the Coke Basin of the Nanushuk Formation, Alaska. Researchers found dinosaur footprints indicating that dinosaurs inhabited the region 100 million years ago.
Excavations between 2015-2017 uncovered approximately 75 footprint locations, along with plant fossils, tree stumps and other dinosaur evidence. These footprints are so well preserved that scientists can identify the type of dinosaur that left them.
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“This place is very rich in dinosaur footprints. It felt like we were walking through a forest millions of years ago.” said lead author Anthony Fiorillo as reported by Science Alert
The footprints were so well preserved that researchers were able to identify the type of dinosaur that made them:
These findings not only tell us about the dinosaurs that lived in Alaska, but may also help answer questions about animal migrations about 100 million years ago:
“We want to know who used the (Bering Land Bridge), how they used it, and what conditions it was in.” Fiorillo emphasized
This research may also help explain the climate of the Middle Cretaceous period:
The Nanushuk Formation indicates that the region was much wetter, with an average rainfall of 178 cm per year.
This is consistent with global patterns associated with the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, when global mean temperatures were much higher.