Theropods and Sauropods of Pula

 Theropods and Sauropods of Pula

The EK mega track site. The Camp Stoja site.

Trag stražnjeg stopala (odljev na pedestalu) odraslog sauropoda (dio staze).

Čini se kao da je povrh traga još i trag troprstog teropoda.

Desno moja interpretacija

Pula 2020 cretaceous turtle team

Pula 2020 cretaceous turtle team logo

Tragovi dinosaura opet uništeni betoniranjem obale

Pula 2011: 1st ankylosaur dinoturbation - left manus/pes set of a probable Polacanthinae ankylosaur. Manus is better preserved. The black outline is from Carpenter's Sauropelta (Tetrapodosaurus ichnospecies). 


Alas, these two were also covered with concrete last year.(2018) The tracks are being destroyed at the ever-increasing rate.

Bad news

A few fossil tracks in Pula were recently destroyed. One giant natural cast of an iguanodontoid footprint got buried under a huge pile of pebbles. It happened during the unusually strong Yugo storm. Maybe it reappears again some day. Some other tracks were buried with it.
Another giant iguanodontoid track (a natural cast) was destroyed by some construction works at the coast. I am hoping that the rock containing the fossil is still somewhere at the site and not completely devastated (image before it was removed).

Oho, we have a situation here!

I have discovered this particular  Early Cretaceous sauropod track site a few years ago.Last weekend I went to take a few more photographs. The light was favourable, that late Friday afternoon, so I made some interesting new discoveries. It seems that a rather large theropod walked at the same site. Maybe a bit earlier than the sauropod, because the footprint on the left is a bit deformed by the print that sauropod left later. There was another theropod on the right, or maybe this time theropod returned to stalk the sauropod.
In fact, there should be a right manus sauropod print roughly at the same place where the theropod left pes imprint is. Thus, it seems that the theropod stepped over it, obliterating it. It's possible the large theropod was following the sauropod!
 There is at least a dozen different spots with sauropod tracks or dinoturbations near the city of Pula. I need to draw a map, because it is becoming ever harder to keep all those places, including the tracks of other tetrapods, in my mind.
My interpretation is on the right. The length of the theropod foot was in the range of 55 and 60 cm. The animal was probably at least 10 to 12 metres long.
TLP = theropod left pes; SRP = sauropod right pes; SRM = sauropod right manus

The ripple marks on a layer that is about 30 cm above the sauropod track site layer.

Ankylosaur tracks that are a few kilometres further along the coast.

The sea was very calm that day.

I must admit I am completely lost here: What made these round prints in a shallow sea water some 100 mya? A medusa? Some fish? (A ray fish feeding)?

My interpretation - which led me to no conculsion. Of course, it's not the only round imprint of the same kind there but this one is the largest.

Pula the other day: a mummified carcass of a seagull washed out on a beach. It gives you an idea why are many fossils so jumbled.

 A giant Iggy track-natural cast, I have found years ago. This one has its toes well defined. It is probably the right foot imprint.

The Iggy track - natural cast, I have found a few months ago. If you have any "objections" over its size, I can only tell you that I have found quite a few of the tracks of similar proportions and a couple of prints that are even larger!

Pula last weekend: Opa! It seems I have found some small pterosaur tracks, again. It might the left foot (pes) in the centre. The other prints are less preserved. I am quite certain that the left foot on the right belongs to me, though.

Tracks, tracks again

A mid-Cretaceous layer from the Solaris outcrop, with mud cracks and a possible dinosaur track. The ripple marks on a lower layer. I was standing on the rock that was about 80 cm above the layer with the mud cracks.

A possible sauropod track with my interpretative outline (Albian near Pula)

 A probable sauropod track

A pebbly beach, Pula.

 Some parallel sauropod trackways near Pula.

 Recent dog tracks showing varieties in preservation.

 Lovrečica: a damaged theropod trackway. A buldozer went over them during some construction works.

 Lovrečica: a theropod track.

 Some unusual traces from a Pula beach.

 Sauropod tracks near Pula.

 Theropod tracks (Pula)

 Cliffs (Pula)

 Rudists (Pula)

 A beach in Pula

The cliffs of Pula

There seems to be a small tridactyl footprint on this grey rocks. Possibly by an ornithopod.

A look at one of Pula's outcrops that is also dinoturbated.

Some nice Mid-Cretaceous ripple marks with some poorly preserved dinosaur tracks.

A sauropod vertebra on display in Bale museum. It was recovered from the Barremian undersea bone yard.

Nice optical effects in the shallows.

Ankylosaur tracks : the perfect match

I have said it before and I am saying it now: dinosaurs are a very convincing evidence that continents were connected in the distant past (100 mya). I have found a perfect example. An akylosaur Sauropleta-like footprint shape from the New world matches almost perfectly the footprint I have found near Pula, Istria. The red outline is the Texan ankylosaur ichnospecies from the Mid-Cretaceous. I have placed it on top of the ankylosaur footprint (left pes) photo I took. It is a part of a dinoturbation with several tracks preserved. One of numerous in Pula's vicinity. I have only adjusted the size. The shape is undistorted. It appears as if the same or very similar morphotype: one from the North America and the other from Europe. The footprint is about half a meter long. It was a  giant animal! But I have found even larger ankylosaur footprints measuring over 70cm in length!

The funny story behind this find was that I thought I have found a theropod trackway. Only analysing the photographs back home on my PC, it dawned to me it must have been an ankylosaur. It is the first find of this dinosaur track on the Adriatic Dinaridic Carbonate Platform (ADCP).

More from Pula

 Continuing the new tracks discoveries in Pula. This is a titanosaur right pes print.  The shape is consistent with the morphotype I have found elsewhere.

This footprint is not easy to notice, but it might be a pterosaur footprint. Notice that the water flow ripples go diagonally in the direction of the right upper corner of the photograph, while the footprint is placed vertically. The heel impression is down.

Here is another footprint I would probably assign to a pterosaur. However, this morphotype is somewhat different from the one I have seen in other places on this beach. No manus impression is preserved. One possible explanation is that it is in fact a footprint left by a plantigrade mammal.

A rather bizarre looking footprint of a theropod (left one). The middle toe looks fat and relatively long and the toe #2 left a deep impression of a relatively large claw.

Pula's beaches are also rich with flora.

... and fauna.