Part of a series of articles titled Grand Canyon Collections—Paleontology.
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Article • Grand Canyon Collections—Paleontology
Bright Angel Trackway
Terrestrial Fossil
Scientific name: unknown
This track block is located on the Bright Angel Trail not far from Three Mile Resthouse. It was made by early reptiles walking across a sand dune.
3D Bright Angel Trackway
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
A 3D model. This model shows a boulder with fossil tracks visable on the surface. The model can be rotated and tilted using a computer interface.
This block of rock on the Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park is a boulder from the Manakacha Formation which is associtated with the Atokan/Moscovian Age of the Pennsylvanian Epoch. The side of the boulder shows basal reptiles or basal synapsids fossil tracks on the bedding surface of deposits from ancient dunes. Recent research on this this rockfall boulder, indicates that these are among the earliest known tracks of a early land-dwelling animal to inhabit desert like conditions. Two trackways can be seen on the suface, and may represent when different animals passed over the location at different times, possibly within days of each other.
This block of rock on the Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park is a boulder from the Manakacha Formation which is associtated with the Atokan/Moscovian Age of the Pennsylvanian Epoch. The side of the boulder shows basal reptiles or basal synapsids fossil tracks on the bedding surface of deposits from ancient dunes. Recent research on this this rockfall boulder, indicates that these are among the earliest known tracks of a early land-dwelling animal to inhabit desert like conditions. Two trackways can be seen on the suface, and may represent when different animals passed over the location at different times, possibly within days of each other.
Model is by NPS; photos taken 4/3/2019 Rowland SM, Caputo MV, Jensen ZA (2020) Early adaptation to eolian sand dunes by basal amniotes is documented in two Pennsylvanian Grand Canyon trackways. PLoS ONE 15(8): e0237636. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237636
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- Grand Canyon National Park
Cliff Collapse Reveals 313-million-year-old Fossil Footprints in Grand Canyon National Park
- Date Released: 2020-08-20
Paleontological research has confirmed a series of recently discovered fossils tracks are the oldest recorded tracks of their kind to date within Grand Canyon National Park. In 2016, Norwegian geology professor, Allan Krill, was hiking with his students when he made a surprising discovery. Lying next to the trail, in plain view of the many hikers, was a boulder containing conspicuous fossil footprints. Krill was intrigued, and he sent a photo to his colleague, Stephen Rowland, a paleontologist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
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Last updated: May 3, 2021