Lark Quarry
Encyclopedia
Lark Quarry in Australia
is the site of the world's only known record of a dinosaur
stampede. Fossilised footprints have been interpreted as a predator stalking and causing a chaotic stampede of around 150 two-legged dinosaurs.
The traditional account is that a group of perhaps 180 chicken-sized Coelurosaurs (Skartopus) and Bantam to emu-sized Wintonopus were disturbed by the arrival of a single much larger carnivore - a theropod named Tyrannosauropus, which may have been up to 10 metres long with 50-centimetre feet. Skartopus and Wintonopus are thought to have stampeded past Tyrannosauropus, leaving thousands of footprints in the surrounding mudflat.. Recent research by the University of Queensland
however has shown that the large tracks apparently didn't belong to a large theropod at all, but were probably left by a large herbivore similar to Muttaburrasaurus
.
Not long after the incident, the water level began to rise, covering the tracks with sandy sediments before the mud had dried. The footprints were buried beneath sand and mud as the lake and river levels continued to rise and fall. Over thousands of millennia, the rich river plain with sandy channels, swamps and lush lowland forest dried up. The sediment covering the footprints was compressed to form rock.
The footprints were first discovered in the 1960s by station manager in the nearby Seymour Quarry.
Palaeontologists from the Queensland Museum
and the University of Queensland
excavated Lark Quarry during 1976–77 (the quarry was named after Malcolm Lark, a volunteer who removed a lot of the overlying rock.) Altogether they removed more than 60 tonnes of rock, and uncovered about 210 square metres of the layer with the fossils. This shows about 3300 dinosaur footprints.
A sheltering roof was built over the site but did not stop the gradual damage caused by exposure to the weather. The present Conservation Building that covers the trackway
s was constructed in 2002. This building protects the main collection of footprints from damage by stabilising temperature and humidity fluctuations, stops water running over the footprints and keeps people and wildlife off the footprints themselves.
The Lark Quarry site is about 110 km south west of the western Queensland
town of Winton
.
The Dinosaur Stampede National Monument was included in the Australian National Heritage List on 20 July 2004, for values of rarity and research.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
is the site of the world's only known record of a dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
stampede. Fossilised footprints have been interpreted as a predator stalking and causing a chaotic stampede of around 150 two-legged dinosaurs.
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
however has shown that the large tracks apparently didn't belong to a large theropod at all, but were probably left by a large herbivore similar to Muttaburrasaurus
Muttaburrasaurus
Muttaburrasaurus is a genus of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaur, living in what is now northeastern Australia between 100 and 98 million years ago during the early Cretaceous Period. It has been recovered in some analyses as a member of the iguanodontian family Rhabdodontidae...
.
Not long after the incident, the water level began to rise, covering the tracks with sandy sediments before the mud had dried. The footprints were buried beneath sand and mud as the lake and river levels continued to rise and fall. Over thousands of millennia, the rich river plain with sandy channels, swamps and lush lowland forest dried up. The sediment covering the footprints was compressed to form rock.
The footprints were first discovered in the 1960s by station manager in the nearby Seymour Quarry.
Palaeontologists from the Queensland Museum
Queensland Museum
The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland. The museum currently operates four separate campuses; at South Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and Townsville.The museum is funded by the State Government of Queensland.-History:...
and the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
excavated Lark Quarry during 1976–77 (the quarry was named after Malcolm Lark, a volunteer who removed a lot of the overlying rock.) Altogether they removed more than 60 tonnes of rock, and uncovered about 210 square metres of the layer with the fossils. This shows about 3300 dinosaur footprints.
Fossil trackway
A fossil trackway is a type of trace fossil, a trackway made by an organism. Many fossil trackways were made by dinosaurs, early tetrapods, and other quadrupeds and bipeds on land...
s was constructed in 2002. This building protects the main collection of footprints from damage by stabilising temperature and humidity fluctuations, stops water running over the footprints and keeps people and wildlife off the footprints themselves.
The Lark Quarry site is about 110 km south west of the western Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
town of Winton
Winton, Queensland
-Qantas:Winton was one of the founding towns of the Australian airline Qantas. The first board meeting was held at the Winton Club on 10 February 1921.-Waltzing Matilda:...
.
The Dinosaur Stampede National Monument was included in the Australian National Heritage List on 20 July 2004, for values of rarity and research.