Part of the fossilised small dinosaur footprints that have been discovered at the Linxia Global Geopark in northwest China’s Gansu province. Photo: XinhuaA set of five fossilised small dinosaur footprints from the Cretaceous period has been discovered in northwest China’s Gansu Province. It is believed to be among the smallest known dinosaur tracks in the world.
Workers from a dinosaur museum in the Linxia Global Geopark in the Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Linxia found them inside the geopark in early August after continuous rainfall exposed the footprints on a weathered rock surface.
Each footprint measures around 1cm to 3cm in length.
Xing Lida, an associate professor at the China University of Geosciences (Beijing), noted that such footprints were first found in the country’s Sichuan Basin and later discovered in Shandong Province and then the Republic of Korea.
The latest discovery in Linxia suggested a broader distribution of these tracks during the same period, Xing said. This is significant to the study of geological ages and dinosaur diversity in these regions.
Brazilian flood reveals ‘well-preserved’ dinosaur fossil dating back 200 million years
Xing emphasised the discovery’s scientific value, stating that it provided a new perspective on dinosaur miniaturisation, a key step towards the evolution of birds.
Since the late 1990s, over 2,000 dinosaur footprints have been found in Linxia’s Yongjing County, part of the geopark, known as the “Liujiaxia dinosaur footprint cluster”.
You Wenze, the curator of the museum, said that the discoveries not only enlarged the dinosaur footprint cluster, but also greatly enhanced the cultural and tourism value of the local area.
Xing explained that the new footprints indicated that the trace-makers were not fast-moving.
“The rock surface shows clear ripple marks, suggesting that the small dinosaurs were active near water, with many waterbird footprints found alongside them, forming a typical combination consistent with findings in other regions,” he said.
These footprints not only reflected the habits and behaviours of dinosaurs but also shed light on their relationship with the environment, he added.