(from Andrew Milner) - Re: Dinosaur footprint trackway NOT found

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

(Posted for Andrew Milner.)
 
Actually, the only reason I haven't responded is because of time. Somehow  
the paper published in Palaios slipped through the review process.  
Apparently two of the three reviews rejected the paper completely simply  
because they could not show that any of these erosional potholes were  
tracks. Several of us were not convinced they were tracks after the paper  
came out, and that's why we needed to visit the site on Oct. 30th. Alan  
Titus, Brent Breithaupt, Rody Cox (BLM Geologist), and myself went in with a  
group of BLM Monument folks. On the way we stopped at another amazing  
dinosaur 
tracksite mentioned by Dave Gillette in a previous post (Milan et  al., 
2008). The biggest site has hundreds of small Grallator tracks and  that's 
all we could see. We also visited the Navahopus coyoteensis type  which is 
actually in Utah Wilderness area just north of Vermillion Cliffs  National 
Monument.

Pretty much every point they make for these  erosional potholes as "tracks" 
can be shot down. For example, "claw marks"  are definitely not claw marks. 
When you look at them closely at the site,  you can see these cracks 
extending away from the "tracks". They're not  desiccation cracks developing 
following track formation, they're just  cracks! They compare "tracks" from a 
Late Triassic site in Brazil described  by Costa Da Silva et al (2007), and 
these things are probably not tracks  either.

etc, etc, etc.

We can shoot down all evidence of tracks at  the dance floor, although there 
are hundreds of tracks less than a mile  away. We also found a few other 
tracksites.

The great thing is that  both Winston Seiler and Margie Chan both agree these 
are not tracks now.  Margie, Brent, Alan, myself and other will be doing a 
follow-up paper  (probably going in Palaios) talking about why the Dance 
Floor are not  tracks, a new erosional pothole type from the Navajo Sandstone 
(probably due  to high carbonate content in this particular dune sequence, 
microbial  erosion, roots, nearby aquifer above the site, and probably others 
I am  overlooking), and what tracks ACTUALLY look like in the Navajo  
Sandstone.

Andrew R. C. Milner
City Paleontologist and  Curator
St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm
2180 East  Riverside Drive
St. George, Utah 84790
USA

Tracksite Phone: (435)  574-DINO (3466) Ext. 2
Cell: (435) 705-0173
Tracksite Fax: (435)  627-0340
Home: (435) 586-5667

Email: amilner@sgcity.org
Website:  http://www.dinotrax.com
Link to a selection of pdfs:  http://www.sgcity.org/dinotrax/publications.php
--
 
**************AOL Search: Your one stop for directions, recipes and all other 
Holiday needs. Search Now. 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212792382x1200798498/aol?redir=http://searchblog.aol.com/2008/11/04/happy-holidays-from
-aol-search/?ncid=emlcntussear00000001)