Tag

Footprints

All articles tagged with #footprints

space7 days ago•11 min saved

Apollo Moonprints: Here for Millions of Years, Not Forever

Apollo bootprints pressed into the Moon’s dry, airless regolith are expected to persist for about ten million years due to the lack of wind, water, and atmosphere. Slow erosion from micrometeorite impacts, solar wind, and extreme temperature cycling will eventually erase them, but NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the sites remain intact from orbit. Future crewed or robotic activity near the sites could disturb the footprints, and there are protections being used to preserve the Apollo landing areas.

via Space Daily|

#apollo #footprints #lunar-regolith

science1 month ago•5 min saved

Bolivia Uncovers World’s Largest Dinosaur Footprint Field Along Ancient Lakeshore

Paleontologists in Torotoro National Park, Bolivia, have documented Carreras Pampa as the largest known dinosaur tracksite, preserving nearly 18,000 footprints across 1,321 trackways dating to about 70 million years ago along the shore of an ancient freshwater lake. Most prints are three-toed theropod tracks, with ghost tracks and hundreds of swim traces; no bones were found. The site offers detailed clues on dinosaur movement and behavior and was published in PLOS ONE.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#bolivia #dinosaurs #footprints

science2 months ago•5 min saved

France Unveils 155-Meter Sauropod Footprint Trail in Jura Rock, the Longest Yet Found

In the Dinoplagne site of the Ain region in the Jura mountains, researchers report a 155-meter-long, exceptionally well-preserved sauropod trackway dating to the early Tithonian stage of the Late Jurassic. This extends the record for the longest sauropod footprint sequence and provides detailed clues about the giant animal’s gait and size; a 2009 discovery at Dinoplagne identified a much shorter track (about 35 meters) but likewise highlighted the site’s significance. The footprints, attributed to a titanosaur, are preserved with sharp edges and intricate details, and the site remains open to visitors as scientists continue to study this geological treasure.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#dinosaur #footprints #jurassic

science2 months ago•5 min saved

Giant Sauropod Footprints Rewrite Early Cretaceous Asia

A rediscovered site in northern Mongolia, Saizhurakh, preserves 31 fossil footprints from giant sauropods and theropods dating to about 120 million years ago, revealing a shared landscape and complex ecosystem that hints at East Asia–North America faunal exchange during the Early Cretaceous.

via Indian Defence Review|

#early-cretaceous #faunal-exchange #footprints

technology3 months ago•19 min saved

DinoTracker AI reads dinosaur footprints, hinting at earlier bird origins

A mobile AI tool called DinoTracker analyzes photos or sketches of dinosaur footprints to estimate likely makers. Trained on about 2,000 real fossil footprints plus millions of simulated variations to account for distortion, it achieved roughly 90% agreement with human experts and is meant to speed fieldwork, assist researchers, and engage the public. Notably, the AI flagged several footprints over 200 million years old with bird-like features, fueling debate about whether birds evolved earlier than thought or if some early dinosaurs had bird-like feet, and it reexamined Scotland’s Isle of Skye tracks. The study, led by Helmholtz Center and the University of Edinburgh, was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

via Earth.com|

#ai #birds #dinosaurs

science3 months ago•4 min saved

Ancient Coastal Footprints on Calvert Island Hint at Early Pacific Migration

Researchers found 29 distinct footprints dating to about 13,000 years ago on Calvert Island, likely from three individuals walking barefoot along the shoreline; the prints are clustered and mostly inland-facing, suggesting a gathering spot rather than a linear path and supporting the idea that early people used Pacific coastal routes to reach North America as sea levels were 6–9 feet lower. Excavation and analysis are ongoing, with findings published in PLOS One.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#archaeology #calvert-island #coastal-migration

sciencearchaeology3 months ago•4 min saved

120,000-Year-Old Footprints in Saudi Arabia Rewrite Early Human Migration

Archaeologists report 120,000-year-old Homo sapiens footprints preserved in an ancient lake bed in Saudi Arabia’s Nefud Desert, indicating early humans occupied a wetter, greener Arabian environment and moved across the peninsula sooner than previously thought, underscoring Arabia’s important role in early human dispersals.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#arabian-peninsula #footprints #homo-sapiens

science4 months ago•6 min saved

Desert Ghost Footprints Map 115,000-Year-Old Homo sapiens in Arabia

Archaeologists report seven Homo sapiens footprints at the Alathar paleolake in Saudi Arabia dating to about 115,000 years ago, the earliest evidence of modern humans in the Arabian Peninsula. The prints, found among tracks of elephants and camels, were preserved in lake sediment from a brief humid interglacial and dated via luminescence; no tools or skeletal remains were found, suggesting transient movement rather than settlement. The team used 3D photogrammetry to document the impressions before erosion.

via Indian Defence Review|

#alathar-paleolake #footprints #homo-sapiens

science4 months ago•35 min saved

23,000-Year-Old Footprints Rewrite North America's Arrival Timeline

Footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico have been calibrated to about 23,000 years old, placing humans in North America roughly 10,000 years earlier than previously thought. Radiocarbon dating tied to pine pollen and ditch grasses, with optical luminescence supporting the age, corroborates the finding. The footprints depict activities from play to hunting, including a woman carrying a child, and researchers hope to uncover more to broaden the North American archaeological record.

via Yahoo|

#bournemouth-university #footprints #last-glacial-maximum

science4 months ago•20 min saved

Ancient footprints push back North America's peopling to the Ice Age

Archaeologists at White Sands, New Mexico, have dated footprints to about 20,700–22,400 years ago (during the Last Glacial Maximum), strengthening the case that humans reached North America well before the Clovis-first model. Radiocarbon dating of seeds, pollen, and the mud found with the prints across three labs all converge on the same timeline, prompting a reevaluation of migration routes and lifeways, though the absence of durable artifacts remains a puzzle. The study was published in Science Advances.

via Earth.com|

#clovis-first #footprints #last-glacial-maximum

science5 months ago•4 min saved

Mongolian Footprints Reveal Mid-Sized Dinosaurs Could Sprint at 45 km/h

New fossil footprints from Mongolia, dating to about 120 million years ago, show a mid-sized theropod sprinting up to 45 km/h, the fastest known theropod trackway in the Cretaceous and evidence that smaller dinosaurs could run much faster than previously thought, aligning with biomechanical models based on stride length and hip height.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#dinosaurs #footprints #mongolia

science5 months ago•3 min saved

DinoTracker AI Maps Ancient Footprints from Unlabeled Imprints

Researchers released DinoTracker, a free app that uses unsupervised AI to compare dinosaur footprint silhouettes without relying on pre-labeled data. By analyzing eight footprint features across 2,000 unlabeled casts, the system groups prints in line with expert classifications about 90% of the time, helping palaeontologists test ideas about which animals made which prints. Notably, some Triassic–Jurassic tracks appear birdlike, suggesting birds may have deeper roots than previously thought, though the team cautions that substrate, foot motion, and other context must still be considered by experts.

via The Guardian|

#ai #dinosaurs #footprints

science5 months ago•6 min saved

Gigantic Kimberley Footprints Reframe Early Cretaceous Dinosaurs

Researchers in Western Australia’s Dampier Peninsula uncovered the largest dinosaur footprints on record, including sauropod tracks up to about 1.75 meters long, from a 130‑million‑year‑old intertidal reef system. The 25‑kilometer study zone yielded about 150 tracks across 21 morphotypes, including new ichnotaxa and the first definitive stegosaur traces in Australia, indicating Late Jurassic lineages persisted into the Early Cretaceous in Gondwana. Indigenous custodians helped block a LNG project, underscoring heritage protection and ongoing stewardship concerns.

via Indian Defence Review|

#australia #dinosaurs #early-cretaceous

science5 months ago•4 min saved

Ancient Moroccan Footprints Reveal a Multigenerational Homo sapiens Trek

Researchers report 85 fossilized footprints on a northern Moroccan beach dating to about 90,000 years ago, likely left by at least five individuals in a multigenerational group. Preserved by clay-rich sand and rapid tidal burial, the tracks represent North Africa’s oldest known human trackway, but the site faces erosion risk and urgent documentation before it degrades.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#footprints #homo-sapiens #morocco

science8 months ago•3 min saved

Neanderthal Footprints Discovered on Portugal’s Coast Challenge Human Origins

New discoveries along Portugal's Algarve coast have revealed the first fossilized Neanderthal footprints in the region, dating back around 78,000 to 82,000 years. These footprints provide direct evidence of Neanderthal behavior, movement, and social structure, indicating they explored coastal environments and had a diverse diet including deer, horses, and marine resources. This challenges previous ideas about Neanderthal ecology and highlights their adaptability to coastal habitats.

via SciTechDaily|

#archaeology #footprints #neanderthal