Re: [dinosaur] Extracting Vulnerable Dinosaur Tracks

[Thomas Richard Holtz <tholtz@umd.edu>]

Greetings,

Hopefully others can add their thoughts, but here are what comes to mind to me:

1) Step one is to fully document the positional and shape data first (LIDAR or photogrammetry) before trying anything else that might potentially destroy the tracks.

2) The next issue is very much dependent on the nature of the sedimentary rock, its competence, the degree of microfracturing, etc. In some well-cemented siltstones we've been able to use a rock saw (a sturdy buzzsaw with the appropriate blades) to cut a rectangular piece out; the bed was thick enough the unit (about 0.75 m x 2.5 m) could be lifted out after that, along the natural bedding plane. But I have seen places that aren't so good in terms of the sediment to allow this. Hopefully someone with experience with those sites can remove it.

3) Other considerations you need to get in place in advance: how you will transport the block out of the field? Where you will have space in your collection to put it?

I hope this helps, and that others have more specific advice.

On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 1:14 AM Hebert Bruno Campos <pterosaurologist@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi everyone,Â

I have studied for a long time some beautiful dinosaur trackways from the Cretaceous Rio do Peixe Basin of Brazil. Most of the preserved prints known are referred to theropod dinosaurs, but some case also occur associated ornithopod tracks.Â

So, I have a question to professional paleoichnologists - with good experience in the field work - concerning the best ways and methods of extraction (collect) of isolated tracks or trackways preserved "in situ", with remarkable state of vulnerability caused by multiple factors: Like natural erosion, non-favorable structure of the sediments or human destruction, for example.Â

Some observed dinosaur tracks are surrounded by another type of uncompacted sediments and, consequently, suffer with some level of risk of permanent destruction.

Please, let me know the tools or material (glue, for example), that are currently used in this very specific type of activity of collect for posterior deposition of dinosaur ichnofossils in a scientific collection.Â

Have a good week!

Best regards,

BrunoÂ

--

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email:Âtholtz@umd.eduÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ Phone: 301-405-4084
Principal Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology

Office: Geology 4106, 8000 Regents Dr., College Park MD 20742

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