  Hear this Here: EXIT 52; I-95 North to East Haven, near Branford, Connecticut You do not have to go to a dinosaur dig in Montana to see evidence of these early giants. Upcoming you will see Lake Saltonstall. It boasts a beautiful pine forest on its east side, and a deciduous Forest on its west shore plus a nearby State Park dedicated to fossilized dinosaur footprints.  You can only see if you get off the upcoming Exit. So get right now to Exit and we will tell you more as you drive. As written by Owen Rogers in the website ConnecticutHistory.org: On August 23, 1966, bulldozer operator Ed McCarthy uncovered a fossilized Triassic lake bed in the nearby township of Rocky Hill, Connecticut. While excavating a path for the new Interstate 91 highway, McCarthy overturned a slab of sandstone and exposed six large, three-toed footprints. Closer inspection revealed that this former lake bed contained the most abundant display of Eubrontes tracks in North America. Eubrontes roamed this area 200 million years ago. Eubrontes giganteus was a large, carnivorous dinosaur that walked on two legs. The sedimentary composition of the local Connecticut terrain preserved the beasts’ tracks made during the Jurassic period.  The discovery of these tracks shifted the state highway construction project toward archeological preservation, and when scientists confirmed the significance of this discovery, state officials approved the ancient lake bed be designated as a Connecticut state park. As the article also states: The entire Connecticut Valley formed four billion years ago during a collision between land masses in the process of becoming the continents that we know today. The movement of tectonic plates caused patterns of separation and combination that rearranged the Earth’s surface. Over 250 million years ago, the African and North American continents collided and forced a layer of sedimentary ocean floor to the surface, depositing a unique geological terrain in present-day New England. Igneous rock, which forms during volcanic eruptions, identifies the original continental material and structures the terrain of both Eastern and Western Connecticut. In this formation process, molten rock rose from the Earth’s mantle and cooled to form the planetary crust. This intense heat disintegrated fossilized remains. On the other hand, sedimentary rock slowly accumulated from minerals and sediment on the ocean floor. The existence of a sedimentary sandstone lake bed in this area of Connecticut, therefore, explains the presence of unique fossilized remains including the Dinosaur tracks. So by now you should see Exit 52, so if you want, get right to Exit and you can visit the very fascinating Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum. #DinosaurStateParkandArboretum #EastHaven #RockyHillConnecticut #Interstate91 #Interstate95 #LakeSaltonstall #Eubrontes #NewHaven #ConnecticutHistory.org
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