Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Ankylosaur dinoturbation

About a hundred meters down the beach, from the dinoturbation where the sauropod tracks prevail (where the iguanodontoid track from my previous post was photographed), at roughly the same level is another dinoturbation. It's also brecciated, but it seems that thyreophoran tracks are predominant. There is also a track of a giant theropod there and of a few smaller ones.
In the photograph below is one of the better preserved pes tracks. It is a cast of apparently the right pes. Roughly 45 cm long. It is a part of a poorly preserved trackway which stretches some 15 meters.
Parallel to it is another trackway left by the animal of the similar size. At the end of the trackway are a few huge, probably thyreophoran pes prints. It seems that there are also tracks of juvenile ankylosaurs present. The three size classes of the same type of dinosaurs, on the same site, might indicate a structured gregarious behaviour.
In the image on the right is my interpretative red outline and the black outline is Sauropelta right pes track interpretation from Carpenter.


A more recent research at the site revealed that this was in fact the right manus print (natural cast) of the large ankylosaur. The pes track is partially visible in the left corner of the photo.




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