Strange protrusions in a British quarry turn out to be 166 million-year-old dinosaur 'highways' of some of the largest dinosaurs of the Jurassic period

Researchers and quarry workers have discovered a massive dinosaur “highway” containing hundreds of footprints left by Britain's largest dinosaurs.

These footprints were discovered at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire and date back to the mid-Jurassic period (201.3 to 145 million years ago). Researchers say it is the largest dinosaur footprint site in the UK.

A quarry worker named Gary Johnson discovered the first footprints last year after feeling a strange jolt at the bottom of the quarry. In June, researchers worked with quarry workers to unearth a dinosaur “highway,” according to a statement released Jan. 2.

One of the tracks belonged to Megalosaurus, a nine-metre-long predator that was the largest carnivore that lived in what is now Britain during the Jurassic period. The remaining four tracks were from giant sauropods (most likely Cetiosaurus). Cetiosaurus, a close relative of the famous Diplodocus, reached up to 18 meters in length and was likely the largest known dinosaur in Britain at the time.

“The size of the individual footprints and the area they cover are truly staggering,” Kirsty Edgar, a member of the excavation team and professor of micropaleontology at the University of Birmingham, told Live Science via email. “I am in awe of the fact that I am standing in the exact same spot where the largest animals that ever existed once stood, and I love thinking about where they are going and why.”

The excavation site was filmed for the BBC TV series Digging for Britain, which will be broadcast in the UK on Wednesday (January 8). The discovery is also part of the 'Breaking Ground' exhibition recently opened at the University of Oxford's Natural History Museum.

Related: 'Like walking through a forest that goes back millions of years': Ancient ecosystem full of dinosaur footprints discovered in Alaska

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Dewars Farm Quarry's 166 million-year-old rocks are linked to another quarry in Oxfordshire called Ardley Quarry, where more than 40 railway tracks were discovered and reburied in the 1990s. Edgar pointed out that these two quarries together make up one of the largest dinosaur footprint sites in the world.

Oxfordshire was a tropical coastal area during the Jurassic period with shallow marine lagoons and mudflats similar to the modern-day Florida Keys. This environment well preserved the footprints of dinosaurs running around.

“There’s a little bit of moisture, so the sediment grabs and holds the track, but not so much that it completely loses its definition and collapses,” Edgar said. “And we were able to preserve it before it could be quickly covered by storms and other events and eroded or destroyed by other animals.”

The track crosses the Dinosaur Highway at Dewars Farm Quarry. (Image source: University of Birmingham)

Researchers used cameras and drones to document the site and create a 3D model of the footprints. The Megalosaurus footprints were about 65 centimeters long, and the longest sauropod footprints were 90 centimeters long. According to a statement released by the researchers, the size and spacing of the tracks led the team to estimate that Megalosaurus and sauropods walked at about 5 km/h, roughly the same speed as humans walk.

Megalosaurus and Cetiosaurus

When first discovered in the 1800s, Megalosaurus and Cethiosaurus were both misidentified. Victorian scientists thought Megalosaurus was a stocky, four-legged creature rather than what animal researchers know today as the two-legged Tyrannosaurus rex, and early interpretations of Cetiosaurus suggested that Megalosaurus was actually a crocodile-like marine creature. Described as a predator. A terrestrial herbivore with a long neck.

Researchers will now use models and other fossil evidence to learn more about dinosaurs and their environment.

Duncan Murdoch, an earth scientist at Oxford University's Natural History Museum who participated in the excavation, said: “The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur's feet were pressed in and out.” . “Together with other fossils such as oysters, shells and plants, we can bring to life the mud lagoon environments in which dinosaurs walked.”

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