The discovery of matching dinosaur footprints across the Atlantic Ocean has provided compelling evidence for the geological and paleontological connections between ancient continents. These footprints, found in both North America and Europe, suggest that during the Late Jurassic period, approximately 140 million years ago, these landmasses were not only adjacent but also shared similar ecosystems teeming with diverse dinosaur species. This finding challenges previous notions regarding continental drift and highlights how the geological processes reshaped Earth’s surface over millions of years.
The study of these footprints reveals significant insights into the behavior and movement patterns of dinosaurs during this era. The similarities in size, depth, and spacing of the prints indicate that these creatures traversed similar terrains on both sides of what is now known as the Atlantic Ocean. This evidence supports theories suggesting a seismic split that occurred due to tectonic plate movements, which gradually separated North America from Europe. The identification of specific dinosaur species linked to these tracks furthers our understanding of biogeographical distribution during a time when continents were still converging or diverging.
Studying footprints–or trace fossils–like these is important because they offer clues to how quickly dinosaurs and other organisms walked or ran and even what their skin may have looked like. Compared with the more well-known body fossils of teeth or bones, trace fossils often contain evidence of how these long-dead animals interacted with their environment and can also indicate what their environment may have looked like.
The team believes that most of the footprints were created by three-toed theropod dinosaurs. A few were also probably made by sauropods or ornithischians. The footprints are impressed into the mud and silt along a few ancient rivers and lakes and were made 120 million years ago on a single supercontinent known as Gondwana. This supercontinent broke off of the larger landmass Pangea. Just before the connection between Africa and South America was fully severed, lakes formed between the basins.
The footprints, impressed into mud and silt along ancient rivers and lakes, were found more than 3,700 miles, or 6,000 kilometers, away from each other. Dinosaurs made the tracks 120 million years ago on a single supercontinent known as Gondwana – which broke off from the larger landmass of Pangea, Jacobs said.
The continents now known as Africa and South America started to split around 140 million years ago, researchers said. The south Atlantic Ocean eventually filled the void.
Basins formed as the continents pulled apart; rivers flowed and lakes formed in those basins, Jacobs said. The basins where the footprints were discovered can be found on both sides of the split.
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