Jurassic dinosaur, turtle tracks found in China's Shaanxi

Researchers from China and the United States on Friday jointly announced the discovery of a set of well-preserved dinosaur footprints and turtle swim tracks in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Five isolated dinosaur tracks and six turtle tracks were found in a layer of yellowish sandstone, according to Xing Lida who led the research.

"The body length of the trackmakers is estimated to be 8.1 and 6.5 m, respectively. The former is close to the size of a large-size theropod, such as allosaurs, megalosaurs, or even a big Ceratosaurus," Xing said, adding that the turtle tracks represent the oldest occurrence of turtle footprints in China.

Staffers of an oil field company came across dinosaur tracks near Majiagou Village in the city of Yan'an last August. A research team from the China University of Geosciences, with the assistance of the company, identified and discovered a series of vertebrate tracks at the Liugoumao site of the city's Ansai District in December.

An article on the discovery was by Historical Biology on June 7.