Racehorse Creek - Diatryma/Gastornis — Bellingham, WA
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Dunbar Loop
N 48° 44.014 W 122° 29.158
10U E 537797 N 5397966
Tucked in a corner of Western Washington University's Environmental Studies building is this recent find of a Diatryma/Gastornis footprint.
Waymark Code: WM11AD4
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 09/16/2019
Views: 4
From 50 million years ago this Diatryma/Gastornis footprint was cast in some mud and then frozen in time. Buried under epochs soil deposits until 2009 when a pineapple express - an atmospheric river that comes from the tropical Pacific Ocean and then drops its moisture on the Cascade and Coast mountains - caused a landslide.
This "exposed at least 18 tracks on 15 blocks in the Eocene Chuckanut Formation. The anatomy and age of the tracks suggest that the track maker was Gastornis. Although these birds have long been considered to be predators or scavengers, the absence of raptor-like claws supports earlier suggestions that they were herbivores. The Chuckanut tracks are named as the ichnotaxon Rivavipes giantess, inferred to belong to the extinct family Gastornithidae. At least 10 of the tracks are on display at Western Washington University." Source: Wikipedia
Today, this Diatryma/Gastornis footprint in on display in the Western Washington University's Environmental Studies building. To read more about the finds at the Racehorse Creek landslide go to Northwest Geology Field Trips by Dave Tucker.
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