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 Jeff Steiner's Americans in France.Resource for people that would like to live or travel in France. |
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AttractionsDinosaur Footprints (Dinoplagne)
Dinoplagne is closed for the winter and will open in spring 2016.
In the Jura Mountains you can find what is believed to be biggest dinosaur footprints in the world. Discovered in April 2009 by two researchers, Dinoplagne as it is locally known was a path used by Sauropoda dinosaurs that weighed close to 50 tons and were over 110 ft long.
The footprints at Dinoplagne are up to 6.5 ft in diameter and the dinosaur path is almost 500 ft long. The path is believed to be the longest in the world.
The footprints were covered in a number of layers of sediment that are now rock hard. This ended up protecting the dinosaur footprints. There is a project underway to expose and preserve the footprints. Some footprints have been totally exposed and others are still under sediment. Either way it’s possible to see the indents the dinosaurs made, even if it’s not obvious to a layperson that the indents are dinosaur footprints.
Dinoplagne is protected but accessible to the public. Picnic table were recently installed and there are signs in French explaining the site. During July of 2010/11 there were guided visits. Dinoplagne is in the village of Plagne off the D49 road in the Ain department near the A40 Autoroute. There is parking near the site, follow signs for Dinoplagne.
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