Dinoplagne, Paleontological site in Plagne, France.
Dinoplagne is a paleontological site in Plagne, in the southern Jura, where a 155-metre sauropod trackway lies on a sloping limestone slab of the Couches du Chailley formation. The track holds 110 footprints, 29 of them well preserved, assigned to Brontopodus plagnensis. Since 2021 a wooden canopy protects the slab, whose pale beige and grey surface is cut by fissures and pitted with hollows.
The site was discovered in 2009 by paleontology enthusiasts and opened to visitors in 2021. This discovery confirmed that such giant dinosaurs once inhabited this European region.
The name Dinoplagne is a portmanteau of dinosaur and Plagne. Since 2021 the tracks have been protected under a wooden canopy, and the site is run as a visitor attraction with marked paths and a mobile application for orientation. The ichnospecies Brontopodus plagnensis was named after the site.
The site is accessible to pedestrians and offers guided tours to help understand the footprints better. A mobile application provides visitors with orientation and information about the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
The preserved footprints were left by plant-eating dinosaurs weighing roughly 30 to 40 tons that walked across an ancient lagoon shore. These animals pressed deep marks into the soft ground that have survived for millions of years.
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