In 2009 I have discovered one of the dinoturbated sites near Pula. Since that time, I managed researching several more similar sites along the beach there. In the picture is a suropod footprint (Brontopodus sp.) that was surprisingly well preserved in 3D. You probably remember playing in a wet sand as a kid. The sand had to be wet and of the precisely right consistence and you had to be very careful while making a cast of your plastic dish or it would have collapsed right away. The sauropod cast was originally a negative footprint, that served as a mold. It was filled in with the sediment ( wet rudistic sand) brought by a rising tide, after the original substrate containing the impression dried and hardened a bit. Both sediments were eventually buried under more sediments and lithified.
In recent times, the sea eroded off the upper sedimenst freeing the cast.
The mid-Cretaceous (late Albian) subadult sauropod (titanosaur) right hind footprint cast (positive) from the dinoturbated beach area, which is full of tourists in the Summer time (A). The same print in false colours to enhance the shape (C). My interpretative drawing of the impression (D).
The negative of the left hind sauropod footprint, which was probably left by the same animal and was the part of the same trackway. The little black bag measures 13cm in length (B).
The adult animal had a foot that measured some 140 cm in length.
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