Texas floods uncover dinosaur tracks

A July flood in Texas Hill Country uncovered dinosaur footprints in Sandy Creek, dating to 110 to 115 million years ago, as responders work to recover from the disaster.

Texas floods uncover 100-million-year-old dinosaur tracks

A deadly flood swept through the Texas Hill Country in early July, killing at least 135 people. In the Sandy Creek area of Travis County, a volunteer clearing debris found 15 large three-clawed footprints along the creek bed. Paleontologist Matthew Brown of the Jackson School Museum of Earth History at the University of Texas at Austin said the tracks are from meat eating dinosaurs similar to Acrocanthosaurus and date to about 110 to 115 million years ago. Each footprint is about 18 to 20 inches long and the tracks are preserved in the Glen Rose Formation limestone, a rock layer that is roughly that age.

County officials say Sandy Creek, typically dry, rose to about 20 feet during the flood, washing away trees and even houses around the site. Brown and his team plan to map and 3D image the footprints and set boundaries to protect them from heavy equipment during cleanup. Officials also expect more track sites may be uncovered as recovery continues in the area, which sits near other Texas dinosaur track sites and not far from Dinosaur Valley State Park.

Disasters sometimes reveal hidden history. The Travis County find shows how nature can expose deep time even as communities rebuild. It also tests how scientists and responders work together to protect fragile evidence.

The discovery could boost local interest in science and education, but it also raises questions about preserving trackways while cleaning up after a disaster. Proper boundaries and funding will be needed to safeguard these footprints without delaying recovery or harming local residents.

Highlights

History keeps pace with the floods and the facts.