Giant dinosaur tracks found in the remote Australian town of Winton in Queensland state will draw interest from around the globe, authorities said on Thursday.
The tracks were left some 95 million years ago by a giant sauropod, the type of dinosaur which includes the diplodocus and brontosaurus, and can be clearly followed for more than 40 meters.
Each of the animal's hind footprints is nearly one meter across, and experts said their condition is remarkable.
"The sauropod footprints are exceptionally well-preserved," Queensland's Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said.
"The impression of a giant thumb claw is clearly visible on most of the fore feet and, in some, the impressions of individual toes can be identified."
Also contained in the find, which was first uncovered in April 2018, were several footprints from small ornithopod dinosaurs and chicken-sized theropod dinosaurs.
Australian palaeontologist Dr Stephen Poropat from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne said that having three major dinosaur groups - sauropods, ornithopods and theropods - represented on the same trackway surface was incredibly rare.
The find offers great hope for the town of Winton which for years has been plagued by drought, and more recently suffered a devastating flood.
"These tracks will create international exposure for Winton which will have a significant impact on the outback tourism economy," Jones said.
"We know the people of Winton are doing it tough at the moment but discoveries like this will boost the tourism industry and help the outback economy recover from the recent monsoon."
Because of flooding, which is likely to occur again in the area, the trackway is currently in the process of being removed and relocated to the nearby Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.
So far 25 percent of the find has been transported including all the fragile footprints which were in danger of being destroyed.
"The total weight of the trackway is in the vicinity of 500 tonnes and we are transporting it back to the Museum, one to two-tonne trailer load at a time," Museum director David Elliott said.
"This is a very slow and painstaking process."
An exhibition featuring the tracks, named "March of the Titanosaurs," is expected to be up and running by May 2020.
