Dinosaur Tracks From 113M Years Ago Found At Texas Park

GLEN ROSE, TX — Dinosaur tracks from around 113 million years ago were recently uncovered at a Texas state park, according to officials.

The tracks were found at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, around 58 miles southwest of Fort Worth, after extreme drought conditions in the state dried up the Paluxy River, which runs through the park.

The tracks belonged to theropods, a group of primarily carnivorous dinosaurs with three claws on each limb, according to a video posted by a nonprofit that supports the park.

Dinosaur Valley State Park has several trails of dinosaur tracks, mainly from sauropods and theropods, throughout the park. The freshly uncovered tracks are located on the southeastern part of the park in the Paluxy River riverbed.

"It's shallow water, but they're usually covered in dirt and silt," the person recording the video said. "There's tons of them."

Several clawed footprints dot the riverbed in the video, some with extremely pronounced claw marks.

Most of Texas is under extreme drought conditions, and the Glen Rose area is considered to be in exceptional drought, the highest level, according to a map released by U.S. Drought Monitor last week.

Storms across the South brought flooding rains to Texas, including torrential downpours in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, over the weekend, according to Accuweather.

The trails were closed because of the excessive rainfall, but dinosaur tracks were still visible, the park announced in a Facebook post Monday.

"Please keep in mind though, the tracks, trails, and river conditions all depend on how much rain we actually get," the post said. "We will closely monitor all conditions in the park with the forecasted rain and provide updates as needed."

The newly discovered theropod tracks are expected to soon be covered again by sediment and water, Texas Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Stephanie Salinas Garcia told Patch.