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Sauropod dinosaur trackway (Morrison Formation, Upper Jurassic; Cop... |
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by James St. John |
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Sauropod dinosaur footprints in sandstones in the |
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Jurassic of Utah, USA. |
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This video clip shows a series of dinosaur footprints in |
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eastern Utah. The locality is known as the Copper Ridge |
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Dinosaur Tracksite. It was discovered in 1989. Five |
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trackways are present. The most conspicuous (seen in the |
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video) is a sauropod track that displays a right-hand |
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turn during walking. Individual sauropod footprints have |
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push-up structures. The sauropod was probably |
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Camarasaurus or Apatosaurus or Diplodocus. Sauropods were |
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the largest and most massive of all dinosaurs. They were |
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quadrupedal herbivores with hyperelongated necks and |
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tails. |
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The site also has theropod dinosaur footprints - a large |
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theropod trackway has been interpreted as a limping |
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Allosaurus. Three small theropod tracks are also present. |
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The dinosaur tracks are in a fluvial sandstone, |
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interpreted as an ancient sandbar. The rocks here are |
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part of the Morrison Formation, a widespread Upper |
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Jurassic succession consisting of fluvial |
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(river/floodplain) and lacustrine (lake) deposits. It |
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outcrops principally in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New |
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Mexico, and Montana. |
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From public signage: |
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Welcome to Copper Ridge. Here, you can see the tracks of |
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two different dinosaurs. The larger tracks were probably |
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made by an Allosaurus, while the smaller three toed |
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tracks were made by one of a number of small bipedal |
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carnivorous species. |
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The tracks preserved here include those of five meat- |
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eating dinosaurs of various sizes and one of a large |
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sauropod dinosaur, a plant-eating animal that likely |
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weighed close to 18 tons. The trackways cross what was, |
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150 million years ago, a ripplemarked sandbar along a |
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river. The sauropod, possibly Camarasaurus, seems to have |
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made a right turn here. The large theropod that left its |
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tracks to the east may have been an Allosaurus, a hunter |
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capable of traveling up to 30 miles per hour. |
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The tracks here are preserved at the top of the Salt Wash |
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Member of the Morrison Formation. This landform |
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represents streams and rivers that crossed the area |
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during the Late Jurassic. The sandbar on which these |
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dinosaurs walked may have been bordered by plants such as |
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ferns, cycads, conifers, and ginkgo trees. |
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Stratigraphy: top of the Salt Wash Member, Morrison |
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Formation, Upper Jurassic |
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Locality: Copper Ridge Dinosaur Tracksite, Copper Ridge, |
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east of Little Valley & east of Rt. 191 (turnoff from Rt. |
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191 is 8.5 miles south of Interstate-70), south-southeast |
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of Crescent Junction & north-northwest of Moab, Grand |
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County, eastern Utah, USA (38 49 54.06 North latitude, |
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109 45 43.35 West longitude) |
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Source: |
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/33092945465[1] |
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Uploader: James St. John[2] |
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References |
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1. https://www.flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/33092945465 (link) |
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2. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/ (link) |
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Date Published: 2018-11-06 23:32:51 |
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Identifier: Flickr-33092945465 |
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Item Size: 70402706 |
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Media Type: movies |
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# Topics |
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Flickr;video;sauropod;sauropods;dinos... |
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# Collections |
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flickrvideo |
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additional_collections |
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additional_collections_video |
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# Uploaded by |
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@emijrp |
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