3 miles from downtown Sucre, Bolivia is Cal Orko, a limestone slab 0.9 miles long and over 328 feet high. On this steep 73 degree face can see tracks from 68 million years ago.
Cal Orko has 462 distinct dinosaur tracks from at least 8 different species - 5,055 individual dinosaur footprints. So how do thousands of dinosaur footprints end up on a vertical rock face hundreds of feet high?
Photograph by Ryan Greenberg
The Cretaceous era saw South America drift away from Africa and and join with North America, sparking wildlife migrations. Cal Orko, kissing a huge lake and boasting the continent's first flowers, attracted herbivores and subsequently carnivores. But it was unique climate fluctuations that made the region a palaeontological honey pot.
The creatures' feet sank into the soft shoreline in warm damp weather, leaving marks that were solidified by later periods of drought. Wet weather then returned, sealing the prints below mud and sediment. The wet-dry pattern was repeated seven times, preserving multiple layers of prints.
The cherry on the cake was added when tectonic activity pushed the flat ground up to a brilliant viewing angle – as if nature was aware of its tourism potential.
This 300 ft Wall in Bolivia has over 5000 Dinosaur Footprints - Twisted Sifter
Dinosaur tracking in Bolivia - Ian Belcher, Guardian
H/T Maggie's Farm
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