Dinosaur footprints are set for public display in Utah this fall.

The public display consists of a dry wash full of 112-million-year-old dinosaur tracks that include those of an ankylosaurus, a dromaeosaurus and a menacing ancestor of the Tyrannosaurus rex.

There are more than 200 tracks in an area which size is smaller than a football field from different 10 ancient animals that live during the early Cretaceous period said Rebecca Hunt-Foster, paleontologist at Utah Bureau of Land Management.

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They were first discovered by a resident in 2009. After that, a team of paleontologists from the University of Colorado at Denver studied the tracks and prepared for the display.

The area includes a set of 17 consecutive footprints left by a Tyrannosaurus rex ancestor and the imprint of an ancient crocodile pushing off into the water.

Hunt-Foster said the site is one of the biggest areas of dinosaur tracks from the early Cretaceous period known to exist in North America.

She also mentioned the traces of footprints from prehistoric birds such as duckbilled dinosaurs, long-necked plant eaters and a dromaeosaur similar to a velociraptor or Utah raptor that had long, sharp claws.

Paleontologists believe the tracks were covered by sediment, which preserved them but gently enough not to scour them out.

The area where traces of various dinosaurs are visible lies on an active fault line.

The land moved up and down over the years and rain slowly eroded away the layers of the sedimentary rocks, exposing the footprints.

During the public display in October, the site will have a trail that will lead people to the tracks with explanations on what they are looking at.

Utah Bureau of Land Management officials are trying to raise funds to provide shade and a 1- to 2-foot high boardwalk so people can look at the tracks and avoid touching them.

TagsPaleontologist, dinosaur footprint, Dinosaur Fossils, Jurassic period, Cretaceous period, Fossils