Dinosaur tracks dating back 195 million years were discovered in Alvaiazer, Leiria district, and are the oldest in the Iberian Peninsula, according to a scientific study published this Friday.
“The traces were found in a layer of carbonate rocks (dolomite limestones) of the Coimbra formation, dating from the Sinemarian stage (Lower Jurassic). These tracks have been attributed to ornithischian dinosaurs and crocodylomorphs. These animals have left their tracks across the vast coastal plain. , existing at the time where the municipality of Alvaisere is currently located,” said a statement from the Portuguese Center of Geohistory and Prehistory (CPGP) and the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (IPT).
The discovery, published in the international journal Historical Biology, allowed an interdisciplinary team of Portuguese researchers to identify a new species of dinosaur, named “Moyenisauropus lusitanicus”, and allowed it to “expand knowledge of the diversity of dinosaurs and other dinosaur species.” vertebrates known from the Jurassic fossil record of Europe and the world.”
This record, dating back to approximately 195 million years ago, according to the CPGP, is the oldest appearance of dinosaurs in the Iberian Peninsula, after sauropod tracks were found in Pedreira do Galinha (a natural monument of dinosaur tracks in the Serra de Aire), around 170 g. million years.
“Fossil remains of the Lower Jurassic in the Iberian Peninsula are scarce, so this work represents an important contribution to the knowledge of Lower Jurassic dinosaurs internationally, as well as to the paleogeographic and paleobiological restoration of the Sinemur of Portugal,” says CPGP.
The study was led by paleontologist Silverio Figueiredo, professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, president and researcher at the Portuguese Center of Geohistory and Prehistory, who is also a junior researcher at the Geosciences Center of the University of Coimbra.
Also participating were researchers from the University of Coimbra; from MARE – Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences; Geopark NaturTecho; from the D. Louis Institute FCUL; from Al Bayaz – Association for the Protection of Heritage and CAA-Portugal.
In addition to the researchers, three young high school students also took part in the field work as part of a summer internship organized by Ciencia Viva in partnership with CPGP and included in the project.