A team of experts from the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) will go to the Ban Phue district of the northern province of Udon Thani on October 20 to inspect a track found in the bed of a forest stream, which is thought to be that of a dinosaur.
Pichai Prathetsena, a Facebook user, posted an image of the area in question on social media and asked whether it is a dinosaur footprint. The post has sparked a lot of comments and mixed reactions.
DMR experts who have seen the image say that it could be the footprint of a carnivorous dinosaur, but it must be confirmed by a paleontologist.
The department explained how a dinosaur footprint could have been created millions of year ago. The formation process began with a dinosaur stepping on soft ground, which could have been wet mud, silt or damp sand near a lake, riverbank or tidal flat. The weight of the animal compresses the ground, leaving an imprint.
To survive, the footprint must then be gently and rapidly covered by a fresh layer of sediment, such as flood silt, river sand or volcanic ash.
Over a period of thousands to millions of years, layers of extra sediment pile up on top. The immense weight squeezes out water and forces minerals to recrystallize, turning the soft mud and sand into hard rock.
Eventually, geological forces lift the land and wind or water erosion wear away the upper rock layers, exposing the fossilised track to the surface.
