Construction of a dinosaur museum has started at Liujiaxia Dinosaur Geological Park in northwest China's Gansu Province.

Fossils of dinosaur footprints with a total area of 736 square meters, claimed to be the largest found in the world so far, were excavated in the region in 1999. They were divided into 44 groups in nine categories.

The state-level geological park was created last year in a bid to facilitate further excavations and to promote popular science. It covers 15 square kilometers and cost 96 million yuan.

As part of the first phase construction, the dinosaur museum is to occupy 6,000 square meters, housing rocks with dinosaur footprints, dinosaur bones found in Gansu and Paleozoic fossils.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2002)