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Dinosaur track record of Italy



Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com


A new online paper:

Paolo Citton, Umberto Nicosia & Eva Sacchi (2015)
Updating and reinterpreting the dinosaur track record of Italy.
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (advance online publication)
doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.01.018
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018215000292


Highlights

We updated and reinterpreted the dinosaur-track record of Italy.
Three distinct associations have been recognized from Carnian to Maastrichtian.
Data indicate a late Cenomanian-early Turonian extensional tectonic phase.
The traditional geodynamics of the peri-Mediterranean area should be
re-evaluated.


Abstract

The recently discovered, and unexpectedly rich, dinosaurian
ichnological record of Italy, has proven to be integral to the
palaeogeographic understanding of the peri-Mediterranean area, and is
updated and refined herein. Through analysis of the stratigraphic,
spatial, and geodynamic context of the entirety of the current
ichnological dataset, three distinct associations are recognized (Late
Triassic-Early Jurassic, late Tithonian-late Cenomanian and
Coniacian-Maastrichtian). While the first and last associations can be
largely encompassed by pre-existing models, the late Tithonian-late
Cenomanian assemblage requires further investigation. To account for
the spatio-temporal distribution of the ichnological evidence a model
that invokes repeated dinosaur migrations from Africa to the Southern
Italian carbonate platforms up to the late Cenomanian is needed. At
the end of this time interval a still-poorly-known, extensional
tectonic phase broke up Adria causing the last dinosaur occurrence
locally and requiring a re-evaluation of the geodynamic models for
this region.

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