July 22, 2019

Monday Geology Picture: Dinosaur Stampede Trackways

Posted by Evelyn Mervine

An incredible collection of dinosaur trackways on display at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane. Part of the display (toward the front of the picture) is real rock and part is a replica (toward the back).

This week I’m sharing a few pictures of an incredible display at the Queensland Museum of a dinosaur stampede – the only known record of a dinosaur stampede. The display shows an area in Queensland, Australia, where there are thousands of dinosaur footprints (more than 3,000) of more than 130 different dinosaurs, all in an area about the size of a tennis court! Recently, there has been some debate about whether or not the footprints actually represent a stampede, but regardless there is a very high density of dinosaur footprints at the site.

The dinosaur footprints – or trackways – were discovered in the 1970s in western Queensland near the town of Winton. Today, you can visit the trackways at a place called Dinosaur Stampede National Monument. In the museum in Brisbane, there is a small section of the actual trackways that was brought to the museum in the 1970s. The rest of the display is a replica.

I hope that I have a chance to visit the monument in person at some point – until then, the museum display is pretty neat to see!

A closer view of the real section of rock.

An informational sign about the trackways display. Click to enlarge.