Lecture 15: Dinosaur trackways

Question 1

Are the majority of tracks fossilized?

Answer 1

No, they are destroyed shortly after they are made. Tracks can be obliterated by: erosion by water, blown apart by wind, stepped on by animals, damaged by other forces. A blanket of sediment CAN preserve tracks

Question 2

Mold vs. Cast

Answer 2

Mold is the footprint itself, cast is when the footprint is filled

Question 3

What interpretation can be revealed with dinosaur trackways?

Answer 3

Gait: bipedal or quadrupedal
Size of the trackmaker
limb posture
walking speeds
augmenting a poor body fossil record
paleoenvironments frequented by the animals
predator/prey relationships
migration routes
gregarious or loner?

Question 4

how are footprints analysed?

Answer 4

In terms of length, width, shape, number of toes and size of the heel impression to reveal the type, but not the species of the dinosaurs that made them

Question 5

What will determine the preservation of track ways?

Answer 5

Substrate related to paleoenvironment, substrate cosistency, sedimentation rate, postexhumation weathering, distribution of dynamic loading forces acorss the foot

Question 6

Define true track, undertrack, natural cast, and track infills

Answer 6

True track: indentation that is left behind when an animal steps in soft sediment
Undertrack: dent in these sediments caused by the pressure of the animals weight
Natural cast: sediment that fills an original footprint (true track) and becomes lithified
Track infills: depressions in the layer of sediments deposited above tracks can also be filled

Question 7

Iguanodon foot prints with ____ ______?

Answer 7

Skin impressions