SHANDONG: A large-scale dinosaur footprint cluster was found in Zhucheng in East China’s Shandong province, which is the world’s largest one yet discovered, confirmed experts at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences.

So far, more than 3,000 footprints of various types and shapes have been found in a groove 2,600 square meters in size, and all are well-preserved, scientists said.

Wang Haiyang, a senior engineer at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the footprint fossils were shaped like those from dinosaurs in the mid-Cretaceous period more than 100 million years ago. Many conditions have to be met to form fossils of dinosaur footprints, such as specific levels of viscosity, humidity and particle sizes. Such a large-scale and well-kept dinosaur footprint cluster is a rare find anywhere in the world.

The city of Zhucheng was called the Dinosaur City of China by China’ s Ministry of Land and Resources for its rich resources of dinosaur fossils.

Editor: Li Jing

By Wang Qian (China Daily Shandong Bureau)