Glen Rose Formation

The Glen Rose Formation, located in the Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas, is a fossil bearing bed dating from the Aptian-Albian boundary of the early-Cretaceous. The Glen Rose Trackway is located at the base of the formation, which covers convert|1500|acre|km2. It was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1969.

Fauna

Fossils in the formation include fossilized ammonites, worm tubes, internal molds of snails, bivalves, scallops, urchins, clams, and small crocodile relatives like "Pachycheilosuchus". The fossil remains of "Acrocanthosaurus" have been discovered there as well.

Vertebrates

Glen Rose Trackway

The trackway is composed of two different types of fossilized footprints. The first belong to sauropods of 30 to 50 feet in length, probably "Pleurocoelus". Discovered in 1930 by Barnum Brown and Roland T. Bird, they were the first sauropod footprints ever found. Some are as large as three feet across.

The second set of footprints are 15 to convert|25|in|mm long and are those of three-toed carnosaurs approximately 20 to convert|30|ft|m in length. The sharp-clawed theropods are most likely acrocanthosaurs.

The prints are thought to have been preserved originally in a tidal flat or a lagoon, pressed into limestone-rich mud by sauropods on a migration and theropods on a hunting mission.

Parts of the tracks are obscured at times of the year by the Paluxy River portion of the Brazos River.

Alleged "human" footprints

Outside Dinosaur Valley State Park, in the limestone deposits along the Paluxy River, "twin sets" of tracks were found. Originally discovered in the 1930s, starting in the 1960s and 1970s creationists alleged that one set of tracks were human (the "Glen Rose Man") and the other dinosaur to support their beliefs of flaws in evolutionary theory. [John D. Morris. [http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=81 The Pauluxy River Tracks] . Institute for Creation Research, 2007.] However, as biologist Massimo Pigliucci noted, geologists in the 1980s "clearly demonstrated that no human being left those prints," but rather "they were in fact metatarsal dinosaur tracks, together with a few pure and simple fakes." [Massimo Pigliucci "" (Sinauer, 2002, p. 246): ISBN 0878936599 ] The family of George Adams, the man who originally made the claims, later admitted it was a hoax.cite news | url=http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/820344.html | title=Human footprints along with dinosaur tracks? | publisher=Star-Telegram |date=Aug. 10, 2008 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2008-08-10] "My grandfather was a very good sculptor," said Zana Douglas, from the Adams family who found many of Glen Rose’s real dinosaur tracks. She explained that in the 1930s and the Depression, Glen Rose residents made money by making moonshine and selling dinosaur fossils. The fossils were bought for $15 to $30 and when the supply ran low, George Adams, Zana's grandfather "just carved more, some with human footprints thrown in."

See also

* List of fossil sites "(with link directory)"
* List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations

References

External links

* [http://paleo.cc/paluxy/gr-fossils.htm Common Fossils in the Glen Rose Limestone]
* [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/paluxy/dvsp.html Dinosaur Valley State Park] from talk.origins
* [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/paluxy.html The Texas Dinosaur/"Man Track" Controversy] by Glen J. Kuban from talk.origins