Dinosaur footprints have been discovered by scientists in Nelson.
The 70 million-year-old footprints were the first dinosaur footprints recognised in New Zealand and the first evidence of dinosaurs in the South Island.
GNS Science geologist Greg Browne discovered the footprints while studying rock and sediment formations in the northwest Nelson region.
The footprints were found in six locations over a 10-kilometre area, with the largest about 60cm in diameter.
Most were 10-20cm in diameter and were probably formed by dinosaurs between two and six metres in length and weighing several tonnes.
They were left in beach sands, which were probably quickly covered and preserved by mud from subsequent tides, Dr Browne said.
He had ruled out other explanations for the features in the rock, and believed the footprints were left by sauropods, large herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks and tails and pillar-like legs.
Dinosaur bones have been discovered in northern Hawke's Bay, Port Waikato and the Chatham Islands.
Dr Browne said the footprints added useful information about how dinosaurs moved, how fast they moved and how big they were, as well as how soft the sediment was when they moved through the area.
The discovery would be published in the New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics in December.
