Real or fake dinosaur footprints?

[juan]

Hi everybody .

Here's the story: somedays ago, one friend showed me this specimen. It was bought by her mother 4 years ago, but didn't knew the species and if it's real or not. I told her it's a Grallator footprints, probable Jurassic, but I wasn't sure if some of the footprints are real or fake 

 

What do you think?

All the best and stay safe 

Juan

[Huntonia]

These look a little fishy to me, especially the track on the right, but I always find it hard to tell with trace fossil.

@Fossildude19

[Troodon]

They do look odd.  Do you have a locality where they were found?  Would be helpful to determine if its an area where dino prints are typically found.

[juan]

Hi Troodon

Sadly no. Her mother didn't knew It.

I thought maybe from France, but not sure.

[juan]

35 minutes ago, Huntonia said:

These look a little fishy to me, especially the track on the right, but I always find it hard to tell with trace fossil.

@Fossildude19

Yeah, it's really hard.

[Troodon]

Do you have a photo of the back side, want to see if it was manufactured.  How thick is the slab.

[Bobby Rico]

They do look strange but I don’t know. Our friend Tim has a good eye regarding trace fossils  @Fossildude19

[Fossildude19]

They look off to me.  

Kind of sketchy, with the matrix looking like some sort of cement mix.  

I am skeptical of these "prints". 

[juan]

7 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Do you have a photo of the back side, want to see if it was manufactured.  How thick is the slab.

Not know, but I could tell her.

[snolly50]

I am curious as to the dynamic force that could move sediment containing "sizable pebbles?" into a track depression without obliterating or seriously distorting the track depression. I certainly find these tracks unusual due to the apparent nature of the infill.

[DPS Ammonite]

16 minutes ago, snolly50 said:

I am curious as to the dynamic force that could move sediment containing "sizable pebbles?" into a track depression without obliterating or seriously distorting the track depression. I certainly find these tracks unusual due to the apparent nature of the infill.

I could see a scenario where the print was made into a clay that was hard baked and dried by the sun; think adobe. Then a flash flood came along (before the prints could be softened by rain) and quickly deposited a layer of small gravel on top protecting the prints from further erosion. A debris flow or slide could also have buried the prints.

 

It would be worthwhile to see if the rock fizzes in acid which might indicate that it has cement in it.

[FranzBernhard]

10 hours ago, snolly50 said:

move sediment containing "sizable pebbles?" into a track depression without obliterating or seriously distorting the track depression.

 

9 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said:

I could see a scenario where the print was made into a clay that was hard baked and dried by the sun; think adobe. Then a flash flood came along (before the prints could be softened by rain) and quickly deposited a layer of small gravel on top protecting the prints from further erosion.

These were also my thoughts - the conglomeratic infill seems odd. But its not impossible!

Question 1: Is such type of footprints (with partly conglomeratic infill) known from some footprint sites?

Question 2: Why fabricating such an "imperfect" and odd fake? Just a home project without any commercial intention?

(I have no opinion if its real or not.)

Franz Bernhard

[snolly50]

@DPS Ammonite @FranzBernhard Yes, as you describe, is the only plausible action I could imagine; besides an unlikely fantasy involving some type of explosion/eruption hurling small debris in the air. Every positive track I have ever seen has appeared infilled with fine sediment with no trace of larger material. So the formation process is a real puzzle (i.e. atypical), if the tracks are "real" at all. One additional observation; the fact that the larger track is only partially comprised of the larger material, adds to the mystery. If the tracks were fabricated, why would the "artist" not be consistent with the material utilized? It's a fun puzzle; but I fear I can envision no definitive solution.  

[Pemphix]

I agree with snolly - very unusual filling, never saw with tracks.

My first thought was some crab burrows which looks intentionally like footprints.

On the other hand, they have features of a real track. I am afraid, that this cannot be determined without seeing them in real...

[juan]

On 8/11/2020 at 9:45 PM, Troodon said:

Do you have a photo of the back side, want to see if it was manufactured.  How thick is the slab.

Hi Troodon

Here's the backside.

[Troodon]

Thank you, definitely different than most other tracks I've seen.  If other similar tracks have been seen and documented then the probability is much higher that these are real.  If this is a one off may be very difficult to positively diagnose.

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

@FF7_Yuffie, is the infill of your foot print from IoW with the mussels in any way similar to the one presented here? If it is, then may be it'd be nice if you could share a picture of it for comparison, since such incoming seems pretty rare...

[FF7_Yuffie]

2 hours ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

@FF7_Yuffie, is the infill of your foot print from IoW with the mussels in any way similar to the one presented here? If it is, then may be it'd be nice if you could share a picture of it for comparison, since such incoming seems pretty rare...

 

I am going from memory because the print is in England and I haven't seen it for around 5 years (I'm in Taiwan). The matrix of mine is basically a slab of fossilised mussels with a distinct imprint of a theropod print jutting out, also consisting of mussels. Fella at the IoW dino museum said it's likely a Neovenator.

It's been kept at my dad's house---I'll see if I can get him to take a photo of it and post it here. 

[FF7_Yuffie]

@pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

 

I'd completely misremembered what the print I have was like .... I remembered it being in a mussel filled matrix, but my dad sent me a pic and it isnt like that. Its been 5 years plus since I've seen it and my memory of it was completely different. 

 

Attached a pic---but its zero help because its completely diffrrent, I'm afraid.

 

 

 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

On 12/19/2020 at 12:34 PM, FF7_Yuffie said:

@pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

 

I'd completely misremembered what the print I have was like .... I remembered it being in a mussel filled matrix, but my dad sent me a pic and it isnt like that. Its been 5 years plus since I've seen it and my memory of it was completely different. 

 

Attached a pic---but its zero help because its completely diffrrent, I'm afraid.

 

No worries! Even if it's nothing like what you remember or like OP's prints, that very fact is very telling in that those prints have a unique look to them that probably means they've, at the very least, been tempered with. That having been said, I haven't seen any casts from the Isle of Wight with shells in their infill, but it's not entirely unimaginable. The matrix, at least, looks familiar from the area towards Whale Chine. However, the IoW-prints I'm most familiar with would look like this (from the area north of Brooke Chine):