Hundreds of hikers each day pass by the fallen boulder along the Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park.
Hundreds of hikers each day pass by the fallen boulder along the Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park.
It might otherwise go unnoticed except for the 28 indentations — sloping footprints left behind by a small, reptile-like creature about 310 million years ago — that cover the rock’s expansive surface.
“It’s the oldest trackway ever discovered in the Grand Canyon in an interval of rocks that nobody thought would have trackways in it, and they’re among the earliest reptile tracks on earth,” said Steve Rowland, UNLV professor of geology who is studying the fossil trackways.
Rowland, who presented his findings at the recent annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, said he’s not prepared to say that they’re the oldest tracks of their kind ever discovered, but it’s a possibility, as he’s still researching the discovery.
“In terms of reptile tracks, this is really old,” he said, adding that the tracks were created as the supercontinent Pangaea was beginning to form.
Continue reading at University of Nevada - Las Vegas.
Image via Stephen Rowland.
