The discovery was made at an excavation site measuring 100 square meters, with approximately 200 dinosaur tracks identified there, said Xing Lida, a paleontologist at the China University of Geosciences and a member of the research team.
The concentration of dinosaur footprints indicates that it could have been a pathway for dinosaurs roaming the area in a relatively short period of time during the Late Cretaceous period, he added.
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The footprints were first spotted last November when over 240 fossilized dinosaur footprints were identified, and another 364 dinosaur tracks were found in early April.
So far, over 600 dinosaur footprints have been discovered at the dinosaur track site, which covers an area of around 1,600 square meters. The site is located in the county’s Longxiang Village.
The number of dinosaur footprints is expected to exceed 1,000 as the excavation works proceed, said Xing, noting that the 80-million-year-old tracks are believed to have been left by at least eight types of dinosaurs, including sauropods, large and small theropods, and ornithopods.
The site also revealed footprints measuring less than 10 centimeters in length, which Xing said belong to bird-footed dinosaurs about 1 meter long.
According to the scientists, it is the largest and most diverse site of its kind discovered in China so far that dates back to the Upper Cretaceous period.
The site boasts abundant geological sedimentary structures, indicating that it used to be adjacent to a water source where dinosaurs would eat and drink, said Chen Runsheng, deputy director of the Fujian Geological Survey and a member of the research team.
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Chen added that more dinosaur fossils other than footprints could be found in the area as the research progresses.