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Re: DINOSAUR digest 4065



Related to John's question I made a short review (to my knowledge) on the length of dinosaur trackways:

As the longest trackway is considered a trackway of a small theropod from the Cal Orcko (Sucre, Bolivia, Late Cretaceous) tracksite with a length of 581 m. As yet unpuplished.
http://www.nmb.bs.ch/congrboliviana06.pdf
http://www.nmb.bs.ch/forschung/forschung-geowissenschaften/projekt- cal-orcko.htm


Lockley et al. (1996), Meyer & Lockley (1997), and Meyer (1998) described a 311 m long trackway of a large theropod (Megalosauripus) from the Late Jurassic of Turkmenistan. This is considered to be the second longest dinosaur trackway on earth.
Lockley, M.G., Meyer, C.A., Schultz-Pittman, R., and Forney, G. 1996. Late Jurassic dinosaur tracksites from central Asia: a preliminary report on the world's longest trackways; pp. 137-140 in Morales, M. (ed.), The Continental Jurassic. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 60. Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff.
Meyer, C.A., and Lockley, M.G. 1997. Jurassic and Cretaceous dinosaur tracksites from central Asia (Usbekistan and Turkmenistan); pp. 77-92 in Yang, S.-Y., Huh, M., Lee, Y.-N., and Lockley, M.G. (eds.), International Dinosaur Symposium for Uhangri Dinosaur Center and Theme Park in Korea. Journal of the Paleontological Society of Korea Special Publication 2. Paleontological Society of Korea, Chonnam.
Meyer, C.A., 1998, Jura- und kreidezeitliche Dinsoaurierfährten aus Zentral-Asien (Usbekistan, Turkmenistan), Natur und Museum, 128/12, 393-402.


From the Ardley quarry (UK, Middle Jurassic, Theropods & Sauropods) a 180 m long trackway (T80) of a large theropod has been described. Unfortunately, due to landfill, parts of this quarry have been filled up again.
Day, J.J., Norman, D.B., Gale, A.S., Upchurch, P., Powell, 2004, A Middle Jurassic Dinosaur Trackway Site from Oxfordshire, UK, Palaeontology, 47/2, 319-348.
Day, J.J., Norman, D.B., Upchurch, P., Gale, A.S., Powell, H.P., 2002, Sauropod trackways, evolution, and behavior, Science, 296, 1659.
Day, J.J., Upchurch, P., Norman, D.B., Powell, H.P., 2002, Biomechanics: Dinosaur locomotion from a new trackway, Nature, 415, 494-495.
Mossmann, D.J., Brüning, R., Powell, H.P., 2003, Anatomy of a Jurassic Theropod Trackway from Ardley, Oxfordshire, U.K., Ichnos, 10, 195-207.


The Galinha (Fatima) tracksite in Portugal is considered to exhibit the longest sauropod (Brontopodus - wide gauge) trackway, with a length of 142 m.
SANTOS, V. F.; LOCKLEY, M. G.; MEYER, C. A.; CARVALHO, J.; GALOPIM de CARVALHO, A. M. & MORATALLA, J. J. (1994) - A new sauropod tracksite from the Middle Jurassic of Portugal. GAIA, 10: 5-13


Another long trackway is the trackway of a bipedal dinosaur from Carenque (Portugal, Middle Cenomanian). The trackway is 127 m long, but the footprints are poorly preserved and probably undertracks.
Santos, V.F. dos, Lockley, M.G., Moratalla, J.J., Galopim de Carvalho, A.M., 1992, The longest dinosaur trackway in the world? Interpretations of Cretaceous footprints from Carenque, near Lisboa, Portugal, Gaia, 5, 18-27.


Further, there is an about 90 m long sauropod (Brontopodus) trackway from the Lommiswil tracksite (NW Switzerland, Late Jurassic), and also an about 90 m long sauropod trackway from the Münchehagen site (N Germany, Early Cretaceous).
Meyer, C.A., 1990, Sauropod tracks from the Upper Jurassic Reuchenette Formation (Kimmeridgian, Lommiswil, Kt. Solothurn) of Northern Switzerland, Ecl. Geol. Helv., 82/2, 389-397.
Fischer, R., 1998, Das Naturdenkmal „Saurierfährten Münchehagen“, Mitt. Geol. Inst. Univ. Hannover, 37, 125 pp.


The Purgatoire River site (Colorado) exhibits sauropod (Brontopodus) trackways with a length of about 50-60 m.
Lockley, M.G., 1986, North America’s largest trackway site: Implications for Morrison Formation paleoecology, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 97, 1163-1176.
Lockley, M.G., Fillmore, B.J., Marquardt, L., 1997, Dinosaur Lake – The Story of the Purgatoire Valley Dinosaur Tracksite Area, Colorado Geological Survey, Special Publication No. 40.


Generally, trackways with a length greater than 50 m can be considered as long, as most tracksites exhibit trackways with a length of less than 50 m.

Cheers

Daniel

Daniel Marty
Palaeontology A16
Research Paleontologist
Section d'archéologie et paléontologie
Office de la culture, République et Canton du Jura
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daniel.marty@palaeojura.ch (office only, large attachements possible)
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