Science

Guess Where NASA Found This Fossilized Dino Footprint

As scientists at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland have been looking up for extraterrestrial life and other cosmic findings, if they’d only shifted their gaze downward they might have seen something else not of this world — at least not for a very long time.

Amateur Dinosaur Hunter Finds Nodosaur Footprint on NASAs Maryland Grounds

(Photo: NASA/Goddard/Rebecca Roth)

The “proud amateur dinosaur tracker” Ray Stanford told NASA last week where he had found the footprint of a plant eating nodosaur from the Cretaceous period right in NASA’s own backyard:

“This was a large, armored dinosaur,” Stanford said. “Think of it as a four-footed tank. It was quite heavy, there’s a quite a ridge or push-up here. … Subsequently the sand was bound together by iron-oxide or hematite, so it gave us a nice preservation, almost like concrete.”

[...]

Stanford also identified and presented several smaller footprints – three-toed, flesh-eating therapods – to Goddard officials from the same site.

He called the location of the find “poetic.”

“Space scientists may walk along here, and they’re walking exactly where this big, bungling heavy armored dinosaur walked, maybe 110 to 112-million years ago,” Stanford said.

Amateur Dinosaur Hunter Finds Nodosaur Footprint on NASAs Maryland Grounds

(Photo: (Photo: NASA/Goddard/Rebecca Roth)

Watch Stanford explain the find:

NASA said it considers the location of the print on its Greenbelt, Md., grounds “sensitive but unclassified.” As it is on federal land, it could violate three laws if removed. The agency is consulting experts on how to preserve the area around the prints.

Check out more photos of the footprint here.

(H/T: Fox News)

Comments (74)

1 2
  • gridlock812
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:41pm

    Really?

    Nevermind it’s sitting on the top of the soil after all these years and on a slanted patch of land…..

    Just go with it.

    Report Post »  
    • ZengaPA65
      Posted on August 24, 2012 at 12:18am

      And Nasa’s “pixels” are round too or at least not perfectly square like the rest of the world’s pixels.

      Report Post » ZengaPA65  
  • Larry E
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 6:47pm

    So Jim Hansen has been wandering around for millions of years? Amazing! If he has he should know that the global climate has been much warmer than it currently is, and give up on his global warming malarkey.

    Report Post »  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 5:05pm

    And I have a potato chip that looks like Jesus.

    Report Post » The-Monk  
    • Komponist-ZAH
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 6:25pm

      That’s nothing, there’s a live Bozosaurus in the White House.

      And let’s not forget GeorgieSoros.

      Report Post »  
  • Abila
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 2:53pm

    It didn’t happen millions of years ago-thats darwin crap.

    PhD’s who are against darwinism
    http://www.dissentfromdarwin.org/
    Darwinism and indoctrination
    http://www.rae.org/indoctrination.html

    Report Post » Abila  
  • TheMarine
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:54pm

    And if that is truly a dino foot print, then I have about 25 of them in my back yard. What a crock of crap.

    Report Post » TheMarine  
  • TheMarine
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:54pm

    I love how we predict something in a timeline of 110-112 million years, but can’t predict the weather in current-time.

    The earth being 425 million years old is based on an evolution full of assumptions – and then they throw the “science” tag on the end.

    The Bible says that God created things by speaking them into existence – and then ‘they were.’ God said let there be light, and there was light. Let there creatures in the water, and they were. This being the case, it’s not out of line for Creationist to believe that the earth is only 6,000+- years old because God created already developed matter. He didn’t create a grain of sand that turned into a beach and then plant of bunch of seeds that turned into plants. He created everything already developed according to the Bible.

    That means that the earth being 425 million years old us based on terribly faulty assumptions.

    Report Post » TheMarine  
    • jhrusky
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 1:34pm

      The Bible says God created the universe, the planets, and life. It does NOT state just how He created it. Too many people continually try to confine what He must have done into these neat little boxes that fit what some preacher somewhere drilled into their heads. I’m hear to tell you that God created what He wanted to create in any manner He chose to create it.

      Reread your Bible; it does NOT state He created ______ (FITB) by merely speaking it. There is NO timeline as to how long any of these creations took from beginning to end, or how long ago they occurred.

      Report Post » jhrusky  
    • gosutag
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 2:48pm

      @JHRUSKY: But, you‘re forgetting that people continuously believe what the preacher’s say anyway, and their repeatedly edited bibles. Like the case with homosexuality being an abomination. It only says that in the newer versions of the bible. Go back to the Ancient Greek version and the words used can’t even be translated to specific English words. Different time, different culture, different words, different explanations.

      Report Post » gosutag  
    • Lando
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 3:51pm

      Before talking about time and the date of the earth etc etc, scientists need to realize what Einstein has proven… time is is a physical property. Time is also relative, and “science” still only has a small grasp of what that truly means. The Speed of light is proven to be slowing down and most scientists refuse to believe it. What does this all mean? It means we still don’t know a damn thing. The earth is flat people!

      Report Post » Lando  
    • Walkabout
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 4:03pm

      gosutag
      No it is an abomination. You are seeing a lot more discussion of this or that Hebrew or Greek word & of discussion of how it should be interpreted. So this is not something that we have to take for granted form any particular preacher.

      But hey nothing like a bunch of polygamists giving gays they consolation prize of homosexuality so that they won;t be sniffing around their harem. So give to Queer studies at colleges on the sly.

      You run that tire old argument past Jews who speak Hebrew? Sure Hebrew has changed some, but I doubt you get far.

      All I seen from Christians, Muslims, Jews & Hindus is that homosexuality is bad. Modern epidemiology points that out too.

      Just because some upper class (1%) Greeks practiced homosexuality with boys in the open is not proof that it was widely accepted at the time.

      Report Post »  
    • DSN397
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 4:48pm

      THEMARINE Sorry but the real scientist, have determined the earth to be about 4 1/2 billion years old, not 425 million. How do they reach an age of 6000 years? Ever hear of the big bang. I think God said let there be light, and band there was light, and all that is or ever will be evolved from that. How does anyone determine the length of one of God‘s day’s? Who ever pull the 6000 years period, should have probably just mutliplied 6 X 24, determining that the earth is just 144 hours old, if God used mortal time, which I‘m sure he wouldn’t, and of course you know on the 7th. day he rested.

      Report Post »  
  • zoro51
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 11:13am

    its been recorded that dinasaurs STILL existed when MAN was on the earth… im not suprized at this find..

    Report Post » zoro51  
    • SocialistSlayer
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 11:51am

      Yeah, All that Global Warming Killed them!

      Report Post » SocialistSlayer  
    • RamonPreston
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 11:57am

      Right…Daniel killed King Nebuchadnezzer’s pet dinosaur but they were called dragons back then. Dinosaur is a new word.
      Reptiles never stop growing. By the time they get to be a couple hundred years old they don’t have many enemies.

      Report Post » RamonPreston  
    • WhiteFang
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:10pm

      Ramon,

      “Daniel killed King Nebuchadnezzer’s pet dinosaur but they were called dragons back then.”

      How did you come up with that story?

      Report Post » WhiteFang  
    • ChiefGeorge
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:43pm

      Yes need to preserve the area right away. Lets spend 250k to build a fence around it and observation deck, completed with several dino models in the area to really make it pop! If it goes over budget, no worries, just head on back to the Obama stash and get more cash.

      Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
    • Komponist-ZAH
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:03pm

      Fang—

      It’s apocryphal.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bel_and_the_dragon

      Report Post »  
    • WhiteFang
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:40pm

      Komponist-ZAH,

      It’s nonsense.

      Report Post » WhiteFang  
  • servant100
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:16am

    By the way….for those of you who did not catch it…this gentleman found this footprint on the top rock layer right under the soil…. IF this is NASA…and this is in Texas, this top layer was formed, according to our geological initiates….much later than the dinosaur extinction event about 60 million years ago. Thus you are probably looking at yet another geological/paleontological anomaly that will be explained away by our creative initiates of the scientific priestly class….

    Paleontologists date fossels by the strata they are found in…Geologists date the stata by the fossels found in that strata… This does not fit their model…thus…the “footprints” do not exist..

    Copernicus went through the same stuff earlier…

    Gotta love “scientific” methods….

    Report Post »  
    • DetritusScreener
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:46am

      “at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland ”

      What article are you reading? You seem to be confused.

      Report Post » DetritusScreener  
    • RebelRouser
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 1:56pm

      the NASA in Florida was turned into a Muslim outreach program, look it up

      Report Post »  
    • jhrusky
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 5:35pm

      @ rebelrouser

      I know what was claimed here but … I was just at NASA in Florida in early May and I can guarantee you that at that time it was not … it was a fantastic facility to tour and spend the day at. In talking to a few employees there, we were told how obama’s cut to NASA had put some of their “rocket scientists” out of a job and at least one of them was temporarily serving hot dogs and refreshements there while she looked for another job. But, it was 100% NASA about about space exploration.

      If you get a chance to visit it it’s well worth spending at least a day there.

      Report Post » jhrusky  
  • jhrusky
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:11am

    The amount of ridicule here on this part of earth’s history is frightening … perhaps you all think the earth is only 6000 years old?

    Report Post » jhrusky  
    • zipzap
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:18am

      You’re right – skepticism of authority is not healthy. Everyone, get back in line!

      On the other hand – perhaps a bit of irreverent humor is all we have left in these dark times.

      Report Post »  
    • NineteenEighty4
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:40am

      Yeah, how dare we go against “experts” with their “degrees” and such. These footprints and anything claiming to be older than Christianity is a lie. We have the Truth of the Bible. Evolution never happened. All of God’s creatures are exactly the same as they were in the beginning of time, 6000 years ago. These fossils are merely atheist and evolutionist lies, trying to pull us away from God’s Truth. I choose Jesus as my Lord and Savior, not science.

      Report Post »  
    • DetritusScreener
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:51am

      Some of you ‘Bible Thumpers’ are completely lacking common sense and logic. If anything you are giving Chritianity a bad reputation and scaring people away.

      Report Post » DetritusScreener  
    • Kalish
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 11:59am

      And to think all of this came from NOTHING and then suddenly appeared BANG ! all by itself with nothing is completely logical right ? and how the solar system and even our own body function is so intricate, that all happened by chance, from nothing, that is logical ? Oh and carbon dating has not been proven reliable over maybe 8000 years, and if there was a flood, it would blow the carbon dating THEORY out of the water (no pun intended) I mean really, evolution is even more ridiculous than creation, Look none of us where there when the earth was formed, Creator, does not mean it does not exist ……..

      Report Post » Kalish  
    • RamonPreston
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:00pm

      You’re right. The earth’s magnetic field has reduced 8% in the last 2000 years. 25,000 years ago the earth would have been molten rock from the EMF field. You can’t get evolution into 25,000 years.

      Report Post » RamonPreston  
    • WhiteFang
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:16pm

      Ramon, “The earth’s magnetic field has reduced 8% in the last 2000 years.”

      How do you know that? Is there solid evidence or is this just theory?

      Report Post » WhiteFang  
    • SacredHonor1776
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:18pm

      Geologists don’t just use carbon dating except for more recent times (it’s really only good up to about 60,000 years give or take a few thousand years)…

      For more “ancient” stuff they use Potassium-Argon dating, and Uranium-Lead dating… There is also Uranium-Thorium dating, and perhaps a few others. These depends on the substances of the rock being used.

      There is also a handful of other methods including electron spin resonance (ESR), thermoluminescence (TL) , and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL).

      Report Post »  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:42pm

      1776
      You just made Ramon’s head explode

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
    • jhrusky
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 1:30pm

      @ nineteeneighty4
      All God’s creatures are the same? Really? You can’t even accept changes as they have
      happened during recorded history? How sad it must be to close one’s eyes and refuse
      to accept science fact. And beginning of time 6000 years ago? Wow! One day your god
      will let you know just how ridiculous you were to believe such nonsense.

      @ kalish
      How do you know it didn‘t come from ’nothing’? Did God say He made the heavens from
      something? Did He say he didn’t create it from a BANG or something else? Please provide
      evidence of just how He created the heavens and the planets and the life on this planet.

      @ ramonpreston
      Keep drinking your church’s koolaide. You would have fit well in with Jim Jones believing
      the nonsense you apparently do.

      You people don’t even realize how ignorant you sound when you try to confine God into
      this mould that fits whatever some idiot told you. If God wanted to create the universe
      with a big bang, I’m sure He could have. If God wanted to create life via evolution, I’m
      sure He could have. Every bit of science we have shows the earth is billions of years
      old. To claim it’s only 6000 years old means that either God or something placed these
      fossils, bones and other items into the earth to confuse people. Doesn’t sound like
      something my God would do.

      None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who can no longer think for themselves.

      Report Post » jhrusky  
    • dae26
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 2:44pm

      I think the Earth itself is 6,000+ years old. Read the book of Revelation. Every thousand years from Adam a seal will be broken. There are only seven seals. God took unorganized matter and organized it creating this Earth. This is not in the Bible, but it’s very likely the matter he used to organize the Earth is hundreds of millions of years old. It’s like baking a cake. All the ingredients could have been on the shelf for a long time, making them old. However, you put them all together, bake the cake, and a cake is born. The cake is new the ingredients are not.

      Report Post »  
  • servant100
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:10am

    Add your comments

    Report Post »  
  • Solidspine
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:59am

    We have the same thing out in our pasture, it is not from a dinosaur, but a cow pie

    hey how dumb are those scientist?

    Report Post »  
    • jhrusky
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 1:30pm

      Sounds like your brain is made of a cow pie.

      Report Post » jhrusky  
  • servant100
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:44am

    Paleontologists date fossels based on the strata….Geologists date strata based upon the fossels in that strata…. If this sounds circular…it is.

    Being good keepers of the holy flame…they “discard” data, just like our merry climatologists, that do not fit the accepted perspectives. In Glen Rose Texas, they have a State park where you can see and touch dino footprints in the concrete like limestone stream bed of the Puluxy river.

    Enterprising individuals have used backhoes to excavate untouched deposits on the side of the river to expose other dino tracks. Being Texicans, they decided to have fun on the last day of excavating and just dig up the soil from the very top layer down to the rock just to see. More dino footprints on a layer that is less than a million years old…

    Paleontologists and Geologists will engage in innumerable arguements excluding this new data (1984) but there are those dino footprints in the wrong layer… some of which are superimposed upon obviously HUMAN footprints.

    Ah well we must protect the sanctity of the priestly class…

    “There is more in heaven and earth my dear Horatio, than is contained in your philosophy,,,” Hamlet

    Report Post »  
    • RamonPreston
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:10pm

      They just make up the numbers as they want to.

      Would like to take the evolutionists/atheists for a trip to the Holy lands. First we would visit the chariot remains in the Red Sea. Then we would visit Mount Sinai. Then the remains of Sodom and Gemorrah. Finally Jeremiah’s grotto where the Ark of the Covenant is hidden. Would like to see how many of them would place their hands on it. That would test their beliefs.

      Report Post » RamonPreston  
    • jhrusky
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 3:02pm

      “Finally Jeremiah’s grotto where the Ark of the Covenant is hidden”

      Wow! You know where it’s hidden? You should tell someone as they’ve been looking for this for 2000 years.

      Report Post » jhrusky  
  • shogun459
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:41am

    CLOSE NASA, call somebody! We have to protect Dino habitat so NASA has to go!

    Oh, wait, Obama already “repurposed” them, NASA as we knew it is gone.

    Report Post » shogun459  
    • ChiefGeorge
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:45pm

      I love that word “Repurposed” It can be used for just about anything.

      Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
  • DadInFishers
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:37am

    Looking past the supposed footprint, honest question here: He explains to us with quite some detail the physical description of this dinosaur that lived 100 million years ago. Have we found a fully preserved version of this dinosaur so that we know what it looked like or is his very convincing description that of an artists rendering that would have come from the discovery of a bone or two?

    Report Post »  
    • jhrusky
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 5:39pm

      You are correct. We know the size of these creatures from the bones that they left (or that god placed in the earth to fool the christians) but the actual look and description is not known … just best guess.

      Report Post » jhrusky  
  • OneTermPresident
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:09am

    Yup… sitting on the Earths surface… and it’s from over “100 million years ago”… I believe it… LMAO!

    Report Post » OneTermPresident  
    • Altair
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:27am

      In between fits of laughter, look up “geostatic uplift.”

      Do you think the Colorado River cut its way down to make the Grand Canyon ? No, the area around the Colorado River rose, and the river remained at about the same distance from the earth’s center. LOFL some more, Einstein.

      Report Post »  
    • LetUsReason
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:28am

      That‘s the part that I don’t understand. I personally have discovered fossilized Dinosaur eggshells in northern Montana. How can these fossilized evidences still be sitting on the surface?

      Report Post »  
    • themudflap
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:47am

      Ever heard of erosion? Winds constantly bury and uncover stuff. I don’t believe the Earth is only 6000 years old, but I don’t believe main stream archeologists have it right either. There is tons of evidence they are wrong. You cannot carbon date rock. I’m also convinced there was a nuclear war at one time in our past as the evidence is clear. But, people want to believe that they are at the top of what the human race achieved and discard any evidence that maybe, there was similar advances thousands of years ago. Do the math on the Pyramids and they did not build those in 20 years with slave labor. I don’t really think there is a huge conspiracy to hide this either. Just human nature that we are the smartest and most advanced so it couldn’t be possible. But, more scientists are starting to raise questions, so who knows. Maybe things will start to be accepted.

      Report Post »  
    • SacredHonor1776
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:21pm

      Geologists don’t just use carbon dating except for more recent times (it’s really only good up to about 60,000 years give or take a few thousand years, the longer the time the less reliable)… It really only works with carbon based material… Coal rock for example.

      For more ancient stuff they use Potassium-Argon dating, and Uranium-Lead dating… There is also Uranium-Thorium dating, and perhaps a few others. These depends on the substances of the rock being used.

      There is also a handful of other methods including electron spin resonance (ESR), thermoluminescence (TL) , and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL).

      Report Post »  
    • jhrusky
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 3:48pm

      @ themudflap

      I like your way of thinking . . . against the PC crowd, but also not for the fools who disregard science as if it’s some sort of new-fangled witchcraft.

      Personally, I believe dinosaurs and people co-lived (albeit not harmoniously) in the distant past… that would explain the tales of dragons and such. But, I believe this is way, way back,… way more than 6000 years.

      I also believe that we are NOT the first civilized society on this earth (if you can call us civilized in how we treat each other!). I believe man has all but destroyed himself in the distant past and this would provide means for the items we find embedded in coal and buried deeply in the earth. Ancient Hidden Archaeology is quite intesting and begs the thought of very old past civilizations that were very advanced.

      Report Post » jhrusky  
  • bcope01
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:57am

    Footprint? I see a Buffalo/Bison Chip.

    Report Post » bcope01  
  • yanki161
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:55am

    Really? Neither rain nor sleet nor snow did anything to a footprint in thousands of years? Sorry. Not buying this for one minute.

    Report Post » yanki161  
  • LadyLibertykicksASS
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:50am

    Muslims on Mars…….???? Hummmmm….. We might have something there !!!!! Might solve a whole lot of trouble. ” Hurry, Hurry, Hurry……Step right up….. Get your tickets to Mars, this is where Muhammed went after leaving Earth !!!!!” Don’t we wish it was true ….?

    Report Post »  
    • redbanshee157
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 3:31pm

      How you get Muslim’s out of a dinosaur footprint is down right bizzare!

      Report Post » redbanshee157  
  • AmericanItalian
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:00am

    Is it just me because I don’t see any resemblance to a foot print from any animal?

    Report Post » AmericanItalian  
  • branimal_08
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:33am

    After 110-112 million years don’t you think the footprint would have eroded away?

    Report Post »  
    • woodyee
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:40am

      I’d think that after 110-112 million years, someone should have found it sooner!

      (of course I’m being silly – it’s 4:30 in the morning!)

      Report Post » woodyee  
    • bitemebiden
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:52am

      Yes, if dinosaur bones are found in sediment that can be identified by different periods of time, why is this one right up there on the surface?

      Report Post » bitemebiden  
    • GollygeeMrwilson
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:56am

      I was hoping they would have said that they found it on Mars.

      Report Post » GollygeeMrwilson  
    • pdw
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:44am

      Well that makes one more state that have left their foot prints. It must be global warming call out the EPA and the IRS we are in trouble, HELP!!!

      Report Post »  
    • hi
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:42am

      ‘Subsequently the sand was bound together by iron-oxide or hematite, so it gave us a nice preservation, almost like concrete.’

      Report Post » hi  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:24am

    Oh just a dino – I thought if it had been a band of extraterrestrials they would be from the homeworld of Pelosi and Michael Moore…desperate for the rescue ship to pick them up and the print came about from their frantic jumping up and down to signal them as they flew by.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • woodyee
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:39am

      You mentioned Michael Moore – he’s been very quiet recently. Could be that the Black Conservative reaction to NBC’s phoney poll and the Romney selection of Ryan has the arm-to-mouth affliction of that bloated baby-eating bloviating buffalo working overtime…

      Report Post » woodyee  
  • BryanB
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:18am

    How much money is this going to cost ????

    Report Post » BryanB  
  • ObserverOnTheHill
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:13am

    I thought NASA was concentrating on Muslim outreach ?

    You guys need to get back to your real mission Obama assigned to you, not anything scientific at all.

    Report Post »  
  • azcowboy1
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:08am

    Call the epa,irs, fda,noaa.fcc.faa and naacp(may have been a dino of color). They will let us know in about 5 yrs.. Until then please don’t look. Next story plz

    Report Post »  
  • gooeylewie
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:01am

    They don’t care about a dinosaur print! They purpose is Muslim outreach, so unless that dinosaur was a Muslim…

    I‘m curious to find how many Muslims NASA’s rover discovers on Mars…

    Report Post »  
    • atechgeek
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:00am

      It is the first step to the Muslim relocation effort to Mars. Soon there will be a lot of them on Mars.

      Report Post »  
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