Dataset Information

A large and distinct skin impression on the cast of a sauropod dinosaur footprint from Early Cretaceous floodplain deposits, Korea.

ABSTRACT: The occurrence and features of skin impressions in a sauropod footprint, the largest (>50 cm in diameter) reported to date for this taxon, from the Lower Cretaceous Haman Formation (Albian) in Korea are described, and its preservation and paleoenvironmental implications are interpreted. The skin impression-bearing deposits are floodplain sediments formed by sheetflood processes. The large impression is preserved in silty mudstone with microbial lenses and wisps overlying a planar- to cross-laminated and fine-grained sandstone to siltstone bed. The paleoenvironment of the skin impression-bearing deposits is interpreted as a saline sandflat to mudflat where microbial mats can form around lakes or ponds under semi-arid paleoclimatic conditions with alternating wetting and drying intervals. These paleoenvironmental conditions would have permitted the distinct preservation of skin impressions in a dinosaur footprint. The observations here suggest that some sauropod dinosaurs in the Cretaceous had a well-developed polygonal skin texture covering nearly the whole of their foot pads, as seen in modern elephants, which would increase stability when walking on muddy and wet ground.

SUBMITTER: Paik IS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5703924 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A large and distinct skin impression on the cast of a sauropod dinosaur footprint from Early Cretaceous floodplain deposits, Korea.

Paik In Sung IS Kim Hyun Joo HJ Lee Hoil H Kim Seongyeong S

Scientific reports 20171127 1

The occurrence and features of skin impressions in a sauropod footprint, the largest (>50 cm in diameter) reported to date for this taxon, from the Lower Cretaceous Haman Formation (Albian) in Korea are described, and its preservation and paleoenvironmental implications are interpreted. The skin impression-bearing deposits are floodplain sediments formed by sheetflood processes. The large impression is preserved in silty mudstone with microbial lenses and wisps overlying a planar- to cross-lamin ...[more]

PMID: 29180663

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Dataset Information

A large and distinct skin impression on the cast of a sauropod dinosaur footprint from Early Cretaceous floodplain deposits, Korea.

Publications

A large and distinct skin impression on the cast of a sauropod dinosaur footprint from Early Cretaceous floodplain deposits, Korea.

Similar Datasets

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