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Small ridges in clay first appeared at the site and gave way under scraping tools as quarry work continued.<\/p>\n
Field leadership came from Dr. Duncan Murdock at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH<\/a>).<\/p>\n His research examines how wet sediment deforms under heavy weight, then hardens to keep each step outline intact.<\/p>\n Scientists gathered for careful clearing and measuring across the exposed quarry floor<\/a>. Researchers worked alongside quarry staff, and a large crew of volunteers exposed prints without breaking fragile edges.<\/p>\n The excavation team documented each footprint, then backfilled sections so the surface stayed readable after machines returned.<\/p>\n Rocks holding the impressions date to the Middle Jurassic, which was a central chapter of the Jurassic Period.<\/p>\n Lagoon mud formed the prints, and later layers buried the depressions<\/a> before waves smoothed the surface.<\/p>\n Rounded and three-toed tracks link to Cetiosaurus and Megalosaurus, likely left during different walks.<\/p>\n Two distinct footprint styles on the same surface help separate plant-eaters from meat-eaters.<\/p>\n Sauropods<\/a>, long-necked plant-eaters with pillar-like legs, left rounded hind footprints.<\/p>\n Theropods, meat-eaters that walked mainly on two legs, left narrow impressions ending in sharp claw marks.<\/p>\n What looks like an orderly trail appears as a line of dinosaur footprints made during one walk, with left and right steps repeating.<\/p>\n The direction in which they were traveling is clear because toe tips point forward, and stride length links to body size and pace.<\/p>\n Mud, water, and burial<\/p>\n Throughout eons, mud and sand settled into the dinosaur footprint holes and filled them in, helping the impressions remain clear.<\/p>\n Sediment<\/a> protected the prints from later pressure. Fine ripples and squeeze rims can survive around a print, since pressure pushes wet mud outward before it dries.<\/p>\n One area includes a place where a three-toed print presses into a larger rounded print.<\/p>\n \u201cTo see the evidence of a single dinosaur\u2019s steps preserved so vividly is thrilling,\u201d said Dr. Murdock.<\/p>\n A heavier step can deform an older print, and the compression hints that passage happened close in time.<\/p>\n Reading pace from steps<\/p>\n Stride length across the surface can help estimate dinosaur locomotion. An analysis<\/a> found dozens of parallel sauropod trackways at Ardley Quarry, and alignment suggested herd travel direction.<\/p>\n Speed estimates aren\u2019t a precise science because mud depth changes step length, and a slipping foot stretches tracks.<\/p>\n Researchers recorded the exposed surface from above using drones that captured the whole area before quarry<\/a> work resumed.<\/p>\n Drone photos fed photogrammetry, a method that builds 3D models from photos, by matching shared pixels across many images.<\/p>\n Digital models allow later measurements, and the approach avoids repeated scraping of the quarry floor.<\/p>\n Previous Oxfordshire benchmark<\/p>\n The discovery connects to a nearby track surface at Ardley Quarry studied decades earlier.<\/p>\n An Ardley trackway ran over 180 meters (591 feet), showing how far a single animal could walk without turning.<\/p>\n Limited access to the older surface left records incomplete, and the new exposure offers a chance to document more carefully.<\/p>\n Finds like this raise the same question every quarry discovery brings, how to keep evidence safe.<\/p>\n A 2025 assessment<\/a> reviewed 14 United Kingdom dinosaur track sites and ranked their scientific and public value separately.<\/p>\n Law includes Site of Special Scientific Interest, a United Kingdom label for protected places with rare science, and the quarry could qualify.<\/p>\n Adding context with other fossils<\/p>\n Beyond footprints, the same layer also holds small fossils<\/a> that describe nearby water, plants, and shoreline.<\/p>\n Researchers found burrows, shells, and plant fragments, showing the surface formed beside living water.<\/p>\n Marine shells and mud cracks can appear together, because tide changes wet the ground and then dry it fast.<\/p>\n The exposed area may extend farther, because quarrying has opened only part of the layer.<\/p>\n Footprints alone cannot prove exact species<\/a>, and researchers compare shapes with known bones and older track sets.<\/p>\n Further work will test whether different sizes and directions mark separate visits, or one busy period.<\/p>\n Footprint evidence matters because tracks show actions, and the information disappears quickly when conditions change.<\/p>\n Careful storage of digital models and field notes at OUMNH can keep the site useful for research, teaching, and exhibits.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.<\/p>\n Check us out on EarthSnap<\/a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls<\/a> and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, more than 200 well-preserved dinosaur footprints were discovered by accident. Quarry worker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-690963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115881939220589660","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}