A Queensland quarry could offer historians a glimpse into the dinosaur era after a new investigation was launched into the area.
Lark Quarry — located near Winton and northwest of Brisbane — has been a popular topic for scientists as they dissect its fossilised footprints which were found years ago.
Many people have theories on what dinosaur activity took place in Lark Quarry including the site of a stampede or a popular crossing spot.
A new investigation led by Dr Scott Hocknull — helped by the Queensland Museum and Queensland X-ray — is taking Lark’s fossils in a new direction to uncover the truth.
It is not the first time fossils have been discovered in the area — which has some of the country’s richest fossil deposits — with three new species found in 2009.
Dr Hocknull will use CT scans to look inside the much-discussed fossils to uncover clues from the past and help inform us more about the Lark Quarry mystery.
“That idea is really premised on the fact that we have evidence in footprints at Lark Quarry in particular,” Hocknull told the ABC.
“That’s the hope, that they look at it with completely different eyes they go out and collect specimens and, over time, we build up this whole picture.”
The investigation is already months underway with the initial results showcasing new findings not only about the dinosaurs as well as Lark Quarry.
The area — commonly thought of as a barren wasteland in the dinosaur era — could be reimagined under Dr Hocknull’s research.
“The trackways suggest that there were periods of time where dinosaurs were coming through the environment, attracted by the food and the insects and the big meat-eating dinosaurs were attracted by those small dinosaurs,” Hocknull said.
“It’s actually an environment … a big open flood plain with plants and a fantastic virginal life of lush growth and plants surrounding to eat.
“What we see with these root systems is there was a meadow of these ancient plants called horsetails. We even have the root systems of plants that … had to be growing in the open air.”