How were these footprints actually preserved?? Why weren't they washed away by rain and whatnot shortly after they were made?

 

 

I just wondered.

Depends entirely on the environment...

 

It is true that the typical natural environment is hostile to archaelogical records, but stable environments can preserve features quite well. Frozen, arrid, waterlogged environments are ideal for preserving organic material.

 

Natural disasters can also play a part in preservation through, landslides, avalanche, volcanic eruption etc.

The vast majority of dinosaur trackways wash away before they're preserved. Most that are found are in a single environment: stream shores. There, the soft mud takes the impression well, and as the water rises and ebbs, sediment is deposited on top of the layer where the dinosaur stepped, preserving it. As more and more sediment piles up, it's compressed and turned to rock, leaving the footprints in place as indentations between layers.

 

Mokele