The book "Dinosaurs of the upper Jurassic period: new information about the location of footprints in Eastern Turkmenistan" was published, which includes scientific articles by various authors on the study of the “Khojapil” plateau with dinosaur footprints. The compiler of the collection is a well-known paleontologist of Turkmenistan, senior researcher of the Department of Nature and local history of the State Museum of the State cultural center of Turkmenistan Aman Nigarov, the Museum's website reports.
The articles included in the book belong to the pen of foreign and domestic researchers. So, in the period from 2011 to 2012, the national Institute of deserts, flora and fauna of Turkmenistan, in cooperation with the University of Bologna (Italy) and the State Museum of Turkmenistan, conducted field work on the “Khojapil” plateau in order to study one of the largest locations of dinosaur footprints. The results were published in the international journal "Traces of plants and animals" (Ichnos) on May 26, 2013 (London) in English.
In Turkmenistan, the number of articles published himself Aman Nigarov as a participant in this expedition.
Now all articles on this topic are collected in one book published in three languages. The articles cover the results of field work, where it was found the presence of traces of dinosaurs of two species - Megalosauripus and Therangospodus. In addition, scientists, drawing attention to the fact that the dinosaur Plateau is often visited by both local and visiting tourists and is subject to destruction, offer specific measures to protect this unique natural monument.
The dinosaur plateau is located in the Koytendag mountains in the extreme South-East of Turkmenistan. This is one of the most beautiful and mysterious corners of the country, rich in geological and natural monuments.
Its area is approximately 28.5 m2 with an average angle of incidence of 22o. dinosaur Footprints are "Embedded" in limestone, the age corresponding to the middle Oxfordian deposits formed 150 million years ago. On this area, when re-mapping, 22 chains of tracks with 796 tracks were recorded, of which two paths were the longest - up to 220 m, and four were one hundred meters long.
