Tracking Those Incredible Dinosaurs | The Institute for Creation Research

Tracking Those Incredible Dinosaurs

Dinosaur footprints are found in numerous locations around the world, on every continent. Typically they are found in strata that evolutionists identify as representing "dinosaur era" time, so their discovery isn't surprising to them. Creationists, however, insist that fossil-bearing strata were primarily deposited during the great Flood of Noah's day, and label the dinosaur fossils and footprint layers as coming from mid to late-flood episodes within that Flood.

A recent discovery of about 3,000 dinosaur tracks was announced from China. Here, tracks from creatures of several different species, sizes, lifestyles, and presumably habitats indicate they were all stampeding in the same direction. The researchers ask, "What were they all running from?" The carnivores couldn't have been pursuing the herbivores, because the footprints are intermingled. And what was chasing the carnivores? It's hard to reconstruct the event completely.

Perhaps the most notorious footprint-containing layer is the Glen Rose Limestone in central Texas, in the Paluxy River bed. Ever since the early 1900s, footprints of dinosaurs have been excavated here, along with elongated human-like footprints. To many, this proved humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time. For years while on the faculty of the nearby University of Oklahoma, I studied and documented these markings, and eventually wrote the definitive source book, Tracking Those Incredible Dinosaurs--and the People Who Knew Them, published by Master Books in 1980. Continued research led me to question the human interpretation of the human-like prints and, feeling the data were too ambiguous at that time to be certain, withdrew my book from circulation. Films for Christ withdrew their award-winning film Footprints in Stone from circulation at the same time. Research continues, and while I don't question the fact that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time, I don't use the evidence from the Paluxy anymore. There is less problematic evidence for that conclusion.

But the question remains. How can fragile footprints made by any creature in mud survive the Flood's currents? Wouldn't the waves wash them away? Admittedly, the problems are serious, but they are much the same for evolutionists. How can easily eroded ephemeral markings survive for millions and millions of years? Investigation of the overlying and underlying strata provides a possible answer.

The Glen Rose Limestone in the Paluxy area measures scores of feet thick and contains multiple, rather thin layers of sandy limestone interspersed with layers of clay or sandstone. Prints are found in several of the layers. The layer immediately overlying the main print horizon consists of an unconsolidated clay made of fine, lightweight particles, which usually require slack water and unusual chemistry to be deposited. The limey muds were probably gravity-driven slurries cascading down shallow slopes. Evidently there were moments when the Flood's dynamic conditions alternated with somewhat calm times, and the water temporarily retreated. The twice-daily tides must still have acted, while pulsating tsunamis kept everything in turmoil. Temporary abatements allowed animals swimming for their lives to clamor over exposed mud flats, only to be overwhelmed when the waves returned. The prints were filled in by a less tumultuous layer, and thus protected while the sediments hardened into solid rock. All the print-making animals eventually died in the Flood, but they were not all dead at this stage.

Complete understanding of the Flood's complexity eludes us. The Flood processes were much more dynamic and complex than we have experienced or can fully comprehend. God promised such a thing would never happen again. Similarly, dinosaurs are extinct today, unavailable for observation and understanding. We must do our best, using Scripture as our guide.

* Dr. Morris is President of the Institute for Creation Research.

Cite this article: Morris, J. 2010. Tracking Those Incredible Dinosaurs. Acts & Facts. 39 (5): 15.

The Latest
NEWS
Marine Mammals: Designed for Deep Diving
While you’re reading this, hold your breath. What is now happening is your blood is delivering the last of oxygenated blood cells to your tissues...

CREATION PODCAST
Humanity's Demise at the Hands of Genetic Entropy | The Creation...
Welcome to the fourth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
''Inside-Out'' Fossil is Amazingly Preserved
It is widely known that vast numbers of fossils—vertebrate and invertebrate—have been discovered incredibly well-preserved.1,2...

NEWS
The Resurrection and the Origin of Life
At Easter time we focus on the cardinal Christian doctrine of the Resurrection. Without the Resurrection, Christianity is a sham. The truth that Jesus...

NEWS
Is an Ancient Extinct Tree-Dweller Our Relative?
Human evolution has always been hazy with seemingly as many attempted explanations for how we evolved from animals as there are paleoanthropologists. Evolutionists...

NEWS
The Return of the Dire Wolf?
There’s been much recent excitement about the birth of three dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) puppies by a Dallas-based biotech company: Colossal Bioscience....

CREATION PODCAST
Cracks in the Layers: Lake Suigetsu and the Old Earth Illusion...
Welcome to the third episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
Fish Fossil Vomit
A rather unsavory news story recently appeared regarding fossilized vomit. Although it’s hardly dinner table conversation, it nonetheless supports...

NEWS
Dino Footprints Down Under
Dinosaur trackways1 are once again making the news. Australia is the setting of a remarkable series of dinosaur tracks attributed to ornithischian...

NEWS
April 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things...