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Friday, July 25, 1997

Scientists: Big tracks in Boerne belonged to dinosaurs

BOERNE, Texas (AP) - They were nature's secret for 70 million years, but now this town is abuzz with talk of dinosaur tracks uncovered on city property after flooding in June.

Fearing vandalism, city staff members kept quiet about the discovery for three weeks and briefed the City Council only this week after word spread.

"We're frightened that someone is going to go out there and chisel them up," said city planning director Chris Turk, who would discuss the tracks with the San Antonio Express-News only if the location wasn't divulged.

Only a hint of the toes are visible in the prints, but the pattern of the indentations in the limestone makes it clear something very large ambled across the landscape long before it was city property or rock.

Geologists say the three-toed creatures that left the 20-inch-wide, 4-inch-deep prints could have been carnivores called acrocanthosaurus, or vegetarians known as tenotosaurus.

"You can't tell exactly what creature made them," said Mike Hawthorne, who published a 1990 study of dinosaur tracks in Texas while at Baylor University.

"They were big dinosaurs, weighing tons, but they weren't the biggest," said Hawthorne, who was among several geologists who began studying the Boerne tracks July 11.

Dinosaur tracks have been found west of San Antonio and around New Braunfels, but they haven't been found before around Boerne, he said.

Boerne is about 30 miles northwest of San Antonio.

The tracks were discovered June 21 after floodwaters swept through the area. Some city and county officials were informed about a week later but agreed not to reveal the discovery until it was decided what to do about it.

But in a memo to the City Council this week, Mayor Patrick Heath said the information had leaked out of county offices.

County Judge Bill Gooden said he told his staff not to release information until it was determined whether they really were dinosaur tracks.

"It looked like a pot hole to me," Gooden said.

The flooding in Boerne also unearthed a trail of smaller tracks, each measuring about 10 inches in diameter, in the same area as the larger tracks.

"These are interesting because of the mixture of sizes of tracks," said Rena Bonem, a Baylor University geology professor.

Also, she said, one set of tracks suggests a dinosaur saw something and suddenly changed directions. The tracks likely were left in a tidal flat, or marsh, between 70 million and 80 million years ago, she said.

Ms. Bonem and her scientific team will return this weekend, and Boerne city officials are eagerly awaiting their guidance.

Turk, the city planning director, said plaster copies of the tracks may be made to create a replica of the site at the Cibolo Nature Center.

As for the actual tracks, he said, "If (the scientists) say it may weather, we may cover it up with a real fine soil and put it back the way it was before." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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