Dazhong.com·Poster News Reporter Song Xuemin Correspondent Yan Tuanxiang Weifang Report
China Dragon City— Zhucheng , has rich fossil resources and is an important fossil output place in my country represented by large duck-billed salnados, and occupies an important pole in the world's dinosaur research field. There are 30 dinosaur fossil spots found in the city, which is a rare area in the world that has dinosaur bone fossils, dinosaur egg fossils and dinosaur footprint fossils. It has been recognized by Chinese and foreign experts that it has the largest dinosaur fossil group and dinosaur footprint group in the world. Among them, the dinosaur footprint group was discovered in Zhucheng Huanglonggou.
"Huanglonggou" is located in the southwest of Dashan Community, Huanghua Town, Zhucheng City. It is a naturally formed east-west ditch. It connects the small Tushan Mountain called "Xiling" by local villagers in the west. It connects the Daoyang River that runs across the entire Huanghua area in the east. It has a total length of more than 1,500 meters from east to west.
In 2009, dinosaur experts discovered a large number of dinosaur footprint fossils in Huanglonggou. In the area of nearly 5,000 square meters, more than 11,000 dinosaur footprints were exposed, including dinosaur footprints such as sauropods and theors. The smallest theorth dinosaur footprint is only 7 cm, and the largest theorth dinosaur footprint is more than 80 cm in diameter. It has been proven by experts as the largest dinosaur footprint group in the world and is a shocking geological wonder.
"Now we cannot accurately explain why our ancestors always took a place name related to the 'dragon' in places where dinosaur remains exist. In fact, the local ancestors found some strange footprints here very early, and their ancestors called it "swan claws" for generations. Legend has it that a long time ago, a group of swans flew through this place, leaving these claw marks because they were nostalgic for the beautiful scenery here. Now it seems that it is not unreasonable that they call it "swan claws", because the footprints of most theorhona dinosaurs are indeed similar to them." Yan Tuanxiang, head of the Propaganda Planning Section of Zhucheng Dinosaur Culture Research Center, told reporters. In 2009, scientists discovered the dinosaur footprint group here. After more than three months of systematic excavation, this extremely spectacular dinosaur footprint group was presented to people. The proven area of dense dinosaur footprints is located on the steep slope on the south side of Huanglonggou. The entire slope is composed of relatively hard sedimentary rock . Various dinosaur footprints of different shapes, sizes and shades are densely arranged on the rock formation, and are well preserved. The scale is so large and the footprints are rare in the world. In this ditch, complete and clear dinosaur footprints can be seen everywhere on the rocks.
Facing these dense and diverse footprints of dinosaurs trampled by billions of years ago, it seemed that there was no longer a cold rock formation, but a magnificent and lifelike scene of "dances of dragons dancing together". Because of this, the Huanglonggou dinosaur footprint group is vividly compared by experts to the "dinosaur dance world". It was confirmed by experts such as Liu Yongqing, Xing Lida and others that this footprint group was formed in the early Late Cretaceous period about 100 million years ago. Regardless of the number of dinosaur footprints, distribution area, and petrochemical degree, they are rare geological wonders in the world. Moreover, the proven part may be just the tip of the iceberg of the footprint group, that is, the entire Huanglonggou may be the "dance floor" of dinosaurs! According to experts, there are not only the footprints of dinosaurs such as theors and sauropods, but also the complete water ripples remains fossils and wood fossils , which is particularly rare.
Although the dinosaur footprints in Huanglonggou are densely distributed, they also have certain rules, that is, most dinosaur footprints go from west to east. Xing Lida speculated that one possibility was that the attack of ferocious carnivorous dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus prompted a large number of plant-eating dinosaurs to flee eastward in a hurry; the other possible possibility was the result of the mass migration of dinosaurs, which means that Huanglonggou was a must-pass place for dinosaurs to migrate at that time. In Huanglonggou, dinosaur footprints are also a strange phenomenon of multi-layer distribution, that is, there are footprints under the footprints, and three layers have been found. Xing Lida said that this situation is extremely rare. If footprints of mass migration are found in the lower layer, the "dinosaur migration theory" will be confirmed.According to Wang Haijun, senior engineer of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, this group of dinosaur footprints has only been discovered in Australia before, but the area is small, only about a dozen square meters.
In 2010, the most authoritative international dinosaur footprint expert University of Colorado Denver Professor Martin Locke Li, of Qingdao Marine Geology Institute of China Geological Survey Researcher Li Rihui and Professor Masaki Matsuda from Yunyi University of Japan have been carefully researched and identified a group of theorth dinosaur footprints found in the Huanglonggou dinosaur footprint group in Zhucheng as a new genus. Because its strong three toes show obvious lily shape, it is named "Oriental Lily Strong Footprint". This is the first new genus of footprints discovered in the world. Its discovery shows that there are two completely different medium-sized theorthosaurs in the Huanglonggou area of Zhucheng that can live in large quantities in the same living environment.
Research has found that the conditions for the formation of fossils in dinosaur footprints are extremely harsh, and are the footprints left by dinosaurs when walking on the surface with very moderate humidity, viscosity and particle size. It is a type of fossil, and can also be regarded as a sedimentary structure left in the rock formation. The fossils of dinosaur footprints that have been discovered in the world are very rare. This is because under normal circumstances, the footprints of animals cannot be preserved. On the dry and hard ground, the animals can only leave a shallow mark after passing by, and then disappear. If the ground is too soft, has a high moisture content and is fluid, the footprints will be quickly buried by the flowing mud and sand around it. The footprint can only be preserved when the humidity of the silt is appropriate. More importantly, the footprint printed layer should be covered with foreign sediments in a timely manner, and footprint fossils cannot be formed too early or too late. Therefore, the footprint fossils are "close-up shots" recorded by nature for animal activities using natural video recorders, and are footprints of natural history.
The discovery of a large-scale dinosaur footprint group in Huanglonggou area of Zhucheng is of great significance. It has extremely important scientific research value for systematically studying the distribution, migration, living habits, walking patterns of dinosaurs in Zhucheng area during the Cretaceous period, as well as the changes in paleogeography and paleoenvironment.
