A with child telephone number of dinosaur footprints belong to at least seven dissimilar coinage have been uncover near the town of Hastings , South - East England . Comprising over 85 different prints , this is the most divers collection of trace fossil ever discovered in the United Kingdom .
As account in the journalPalaeogeography , Palaeoclimatology , Palaeoecology , the footmark engagement from the Lower Cretaceous period and were made between 145 and 100 million eld ago . They range in size from 2 to 60 centimeters ( 0.8 to 23.6 column inch ) . The traces are incredibly wide-ranging and show a heavy deal of detail . Claws , scales , and the fine elements of the tegument are all extremely clear .
There ’s also groovy variety in the character of dinosaurs that lead these traces . kernel - eating theropods and armored herbivore likeAnkylosauruswalked these lands in ancestral multiplication . A metal money ofStegosaurusalso depart its mark here , andBrachiosaurusandBrontosaurusmight have done so too . Iguanodonfootprints were also discovered . The first knownIguanodonwas discovered in the surface area in 1825 .
" Whole dead body fossils of dinosaur are incredibly rare , " first author Anthony Shillito , a grad researcher at the University of Cambridge , said in astatement . " Usually you only get pocket-size pieces , which do n’t say you a lot about how that dinosaur may have be . A accumulation of footprints like this helps you fill in some of the col and infer things about which dinosaurs were endure in the same berth at the same clock time . "
The footprints were found in the sandstone and mudstone cliff near Hastings . As the coastline erode they came to light . In the Cretaceous period , this domain was likely close to a body of water informant . The team disclose a turn of ossified plant and invertebrates aboard ( and under ) the footprint .
" To preserve footprints , you need the right type of environs , " co - writer Dr Neil Davies explained . " The priming needs to be ' sticky ' enough so that the footprint leaves a mark , but not so wet that it gets wash away . You need that balance in parliamentary law to capture and conserve them . "
Shillito ’s research concenter on the impression that early animals come out of the urine had on the domain , using trace fogey to track change in the geology . For the dinosaurs , the research team looked at whether they affected the catamenia of river as prominent animals do today . There ’s some evidence from footprints that they might have had an impact but researchers are yet to find a smoke gun .
