Dinosaur Valley State Park

State park in Texas, United States

32°15′11.7″N 97°49′6.91″W / 32.253250°N 97.8185861°W / 32.253250; -97.8185861Area1,524.72 acres (6.1703 km²)Established1972Visitors243,001 (in 2022)^[1]Governing bodyTexas Parks and Wildlife Department

U.S. National Natural Landmark

Designated1968

Dinosaur Valley State Park is a state park near Glen Rose, Texas, United States.^[2]^[3]

History

Dinosaur Valley State Park, located just northwest of Glen Rose in Somervell County, Texas, is a 1,524.72-acre (617 ha) scenic park set astride the Paluxy River. The land for the park was acquired from private owners under the State Parks Bonds Program during 1968 and opened to the public in 1972.^[4] In addition to being a state park, it is also a National Natural Landmark.^[5]

Eastward-dipping limestones, sandstones, and mudstones of the Glen Rose Formation were deposited during the early Cretaceous Period approximately 113 million years ago along the shorelines of an ancient sea, and form the geological setting for the park area. Over the last million years or so, these layered formations have been eroded, dissected and sculpted by the Paluxy River which, in many places, has cut down to resistant beds and planed off sizable exposures of rock in the river bottom.^[4]

Controversy

Near Dinosaur Valley State Park, in the limestone deposits along the Paluxy River, "twin sets" of tracks were found in the Glen Rose Formation as early as 1908. These footprints were once thought to be evidence that humans and non-avian dinosaurs lived at the same time, but now are identified to be created by dinosaurs.^[6] However, young-Earth creationists continue to believe that humans and non-avian dinosaurs lived at the same time, a notion that is contrary to the standard view of the geological time scale. Biologist Massimo Pigliucci has noted that geologists in the 1980s "clearly demonstrated that no human being left those prints," but rather "they were in fact metatarsal dinosaur tracks, together with a few pure and simple fakes."^[7]

The family of George Adams, who claimed to have found human footprints in the Glen Rose Formation, later admitted that Adams' and some others' fossil footprints were a hoax.^[8] Zana Douglas, the granddaughter of George Adams, explained that during the 1930s' Great Depression her grandfather and other residents of Glen Rose made money by making moonshine and selling "dinosaur fossils".^[8] The faux fossils brought $15 to $30 and when the supply ran low, they "just carved more, some with human footprints thrown in."^[8]

References

^ Christopher Adams. "What is the most visited state park in Texas? Here's the top 10 countdown". KXAN.com. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Dinosaur Valley State Park
^ List of Texas State Parks
^ ^a ^b "Texas Parks and Wildlife: Dinosaur Valley State Park". Archived from the original on June 22, 2005. Retrieved July 2, 2005.
^ "National Natural Landmarks - National Natural Landmarks (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved March 30, 2019. Year designated: 1968
^ Morris, John (May 2013). "Paluxy River: The Tale of the Trails". Acts & Facts. 42 (#5): 12–14.
^ Massimo Pigliucci, Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science, (Sinauer, 2002, page 246): ISBN 0-87893-659-9
^ ^a ^b ^c Kennedy, Bud (August 10, 2008). "Human footprints beside dinosaur tracks? Let's talk". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. B02.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dinosaur Valley State Park.

Dinosaur Valley State Park, official website
A guide to the state park by Glen J. Kuban.
The Texas Dinosaur/"Man Track" Controversy by Glen J. Kuban from talk.origins
Film footage of Dinosaur Valley State Park from Texas: The Beginnings, Part I on the Texas Archive of the Moving Image

Protected areas of Texas

Federal

National Parks	Big Bend Guadalupe Mountains
National monuments and memorials	Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument Castner Range National Monument Chamizal National Memorial Military Working Dog Teams National Monument Waco Mammoth National Monument
National Historical Parks and Historic Sites	Fort Davis NHS Lyndon B. Johnson NHP Palo Alto Battlefield NHP San Antonio Missions NHP
National Historic Trails	El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
National Recreation Areas	Amistad Lake Meredith
National Wild and Scenic Rivers	Rio Grande
National Wildlife Refuges	Anahuac Aransas Attwater Prairie Chicken Balcones Canyonlands Big Boggy Brazoria Buffalo Lake Caddo Lake Grulla Hagerman Laguna Atascosa Little Sandy Lower Rio Grande Valley McFaddin Muleshoe Neches River San Bernard Santa Ana Texas Point Trinity River
National Forests	Angelina Davy Crockett Sabine Sam Houston
National Grasslands	Caddo Lyndon B. Johnson McClellan Creek Rita Blanca
Other Protected Areas	Big Thicket National Preserve Padre Island National Seashore

State

State Parks and Natural Areas	Abilene Albert and Bessie Kronkosky State Natural Area Atlanta Balmorhea Barton Warnock Visitor Center Bastrop Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley Big Bend Ranch Big Spring Blanco Bonham Brazos Bend Buescher Caddo Lake Caprock Canyons Cedar Hill Chinati Mountains State Natural Area Choke Canyon Cleburne Colorado Bend Cooper Lake Copper Breaks Daingerfield Davis Hill Davis Mountains Devils River State Natural Area Devil's Sinkhole State Natural Area Dinosaur Valley Eisenhower Enchanted Rock State Natural Area Estero Llano Grande Fairfield Lake Falcon Fort Boggy Fort Parker State Park Fort Richardson State Park Franklin Mountains Galveston Island Garner Goliad Goose Island Government Canyon State Natural Area Guadalupe River Hill Country State Natural Area Honey Creek State Natural Area Huntsville Indian Lodge Inks Lake Kickapoo Cavern Lake Arrowhead Lake Bob Sandlin Lake Brownwood Lake Casa Blanca International Lake Colorado City Lake Corpus Christi Lake Livingston Lake Mineral Wells Lake Somerville Lake Tawakoni Lake Whitney Lockhart Longhorn Cavern Lost Maples State Natural Area Martin Creek Lake Martin Dies Jr. Matagorda Island McKinney Falls McKinney Roughs Meridian Mission Tejas Monahans Sandhills Mother Neff State Park Mustang Island Old Tunnel Palmetto Palo Duro Canyon Palo Pinto Mountains Pedernales Falls Possum Kingdom Purtis Creek Ray Roberts Lake Resaca de la Palma San Angelo Sea Rim Sheldon Lake South Llano River Stephen F. Austin Tyler Village Creek Walter Umphrey Wyler Aerial Tramway
State Historic Sites	Acton Admiral Nimitz Barrington Living History Farm at Washington-on-the-Brazos Battleship TEXAS Caddo Mounds Casa Navarro Confederate Reunion Grounds Eisenhower Birthplace Fanthorp Inn Fannin Battleground Fort Griffin Fort Lancaster Fort Leaton Fort McKavett Fort Richardson State Park Fulton Mansion Goliad Hueco Tanks Kreische Brewery Landmark Inn Levi Jordan Plantation Lipantitlan Lyndon B. Johnson Magoffin Homestead Mission Espiritu Santo Mission Rosario Monument Hill Penn Farm Point Isabel Lighthouse Sabine Pass Battleground Sam Bell Maxey House Samuel T. Rayburn House San Felipe San Jacinto Battleground Sauer-Beckmann Farm Seminole Canyon Starr Family Home Varner–Hogg Plantation Washington-on-the-Brazos Zaragoza Birthplace
State Forests and Arboretums	E.O. Siecke I.D. Fairchild John Henry Kirby Masterson W. Goodrich Jones Ruth Bowling Nichols Arboretum Olive Scott Petty Arboretum
State Wildlife Trails	Great Texas Coastal Heart of Texas Panhandle Plains Prairies and Pineywoods

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

v t e National Natural Landmarks in Texas
Attwater Prairie Chicken Preserve Bayside Resaca Area Catfish Creek Caverns of Sonora Devil's Sinkhole Dinosaur Valley State Park Ezell's Cave Enchanted Rock Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge Greenwood Canyon High Plains Natural Area Little Blanco River Bluff Longhorn Cavern Lost Maples State Natural Area Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge Odessa Meteor Crater Palo Duro Canyon State Park Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge Natural Bridge Caverns Cave Without a Name
List of National Natural Landmarks in Texas

National Natural Landmarks in Texas