Mommy, Which Animal Left This Footprints?

Dinosaur Footprints from a Coal Mine in East-Central Utah:

" Thousands of natural casts of dinosaur footprints occur in the roof surface of a mine in an Upper Cretaceous coal in east-central Utah. Ninety three have been removed for study. They range in length from 28 to 87.5 cm. Most are three-toed forms; only two types are four-toed. About 14 dinosaur taxa were probably responsible for producing the specimens in the collection. These tracks were made by animals which walked in the peat on the surface of a swamp; their footprints were filled by mud, silt or sand during the flooding of a local river. Most footprints are very broad with short thick toes, apparently well-adapted for walking on soft peat. Some footprint casts become loose in the mine roof and can fall, creating a hazardous condition for miners, especially in the case of tracks weighing up to 140 kg. In order to collect quality tracks, they must be chiseled from the roof rock matrix. Footprints from coal mines are well-known in central Utah and are displayed in front of the homes of miners and also in some businesses."