Dinosaur footprint???

[Godofgods]

Hi everyone, i found this thing that seems to be a Theropod footprint. In this area there were dinosaurs, but here the karst has a foundamental role: many shapes are due to karst. Finally this "footprint" is single while the other tracks that have been found are in sequence. For you can this be a Theropod footprint?

Thanks

 

[Troodon]

Can you take some additional pictures without shadows.  Did you say other footprints have been found in the area where this one was collected

[westcoast]

As you say, in a karst landscape you get a lot of complex and curious shapes. Do you have any idea of how long the surface has been subject to karstification? I would have stopped and photographed that if I had spotted it...do you have pictures of the other footprints found in the area, are they also in karst limestone?

[Fossildude19]

My only issue against this being a dinosaur print is the obvious rise in the middle of the "palm" or heel area of the track. 

 

 

That seems a bit problematic for me. 

 

And here is the image with black and white reversed.

 

 

Looks less like a foot print this way.  

 

That big bulge in the middle has me guessing. 

[JohnBrian]

1 hour ago, Fossildude19 said:

My only issue against this being a dinosaur print is the obvious rise in the middle of the "palm" or heel area of the track.

 

And here is the image with black and white reversed.

 

 

Looks less like a foot print this way.  

 

That big bulge in the middle has me guessing. 

 

Wild guess, but maybe the mud stuck to the middle of the foot & was pulled up when the foot was pulled up?

[coled18]

I would keep it if I were you, it is definitely of interesting shape, and the chances of karst creating such shape are pretty rare. I would suggest uploading more pictures so others could help you more, and keep my mind open to ideas like what @JohnBrian suggested. Good luck and keep digging!

[Godofgods]

Thank you very much 

 

The age of formation is Aptian, Lower Cretaceous; here i found paleosol, dated Aptian, and foraminifera of Aptian.

 

At this time I can't take other photos because the place is not near, but as soon as I can I will make new photos.

 

In the same province other footprints were found, of theropods and sauropods, of which I enclose a few photos almost always Aptian.

 

 

[westcoast]

I would be going back looking for more...good luck!

[Rockwood]

On 3/27/2017 at 5:20 PM, Troodon said:

Can you take some additional pictures without shadows. 

Super important. That whole middle digit depends on it. 

[EMP]

 

On ‎3‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 4:26 PM, Godofgods said:

Hi everyone, i found this thing that seems to be a Theropod footprint. In this area there were dinosaurs, but here the karst has a foundamental role: many shapes are due to karst. Finally this "footprint" is single while the other tracks that have been found are in sequence. For you can this be a Theropod footprint?

Thanks

 

Yes it looks like it. The thing going on is that it's the three toe prints and not really the entire foot itself.

 

[Troodon]

I'm not convinced its a dino print for the following reasons.

Just because prints have been found in the province it does not mean they exist in your area, geology can change very quickly..  All the prints shown in the photos were trackways not isolated.   Finally and most convincing the foot pad area in your specimen is not flat like the ones in the trackways.  Too many high ridges and the pad area is raised like Fossildude photo.   If you can find more typical prints it would convince me to say this one is real.

 

[EMP]

32 minutes ago, Troodon said:

I'm not convinced its a dino print for the following reasons.

Just because prints have been found in the province it does not mean they exist in your area, geology can change very quickly..  All the prints shown in the photos were trackways not isolated.   Finally and most convincing the foot pad area in your specimen is not flat like the ones in the trackways.  Too many high ridges and the pad area is raised like Fossildude photo.   If you can find more typical prints it would convince me to say this one is real.

 

The rock in the picture is pretty small though, and not all ichnofossils are entire footprints. It's very possible that it's either just toe marks or that there was sediment slump/deposition after the imprint was made by the animal. Remember, no two tracks will ever be the same.

[Troodon]

3 minutes ago, EMP said:

 

The rock in the picture is pretty small though, and not all ichnofossils are entire footprints. It's very possible that it's either just toe marks or that there was sediment slump/deposition after the imprint was made by the animal. Remember, no two tracks will ever be the same.

 

I agree this is not an exact science.  My concern was that the pad area was raised to the same elevation as the top of the footprint which seems excessive.  I would like to see if he finds more that would tell us prints are in that specific locality.  This is very subjective.

[EMP]

25 minutes ago, Troodon said:

My concern was that the pad area was raised to the same elevation as the top of the footprint which seems excessive.

 

Not really, especially if there were layers of rock deposited over the footprint but later weathered/eroded out of it.

 

Look up examples of the dinosaur trace fossils from the Patuxent Formation of Maryland and Virginia.

[Godofgods]

Thank you very much everyone...If i find new information i will let you know     

[abyssunder]

I wanted to ask, where in Europe is the location of the find? (Country, region, nearest locality), but I think the answer is here .

 

F. M. Petti et al. 2008.Theropod and sauropod footprints in the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Apenninic Carbonate Platform (Esperia, Lazio, Central Italy): a further constraint on the palaeogeography of the Central-Mediterranean area. Studi Trent. Sci. Nat., Acta Geol., 83: 323-334

 

Citton, P. et al. 2015. Elongated theropod tracks from the  Cretaceous Apenninic Carbonate  Platform of southern Latium (central Italy). Palaeontologia Electronica  18.3.49A: 1-12

[Godofgods]

19 hours ago, abyssunder said:

I wanted to ask, where in Europe is the location of the find? (Country, region, nearest locality), but I think the answer is here .

 

F. M. Petti et al. 2008.Theropod and sauropod footprints in the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Apenninic Carbonate Platform (Esperia, Lazio, Central Italy): a further constraint on the palaeogeography of the Central-Mediterranean area. Studi Trent. Sci. Nat., Acta Geol., 83: 323-334

 

Citton, P. et al. 2015. Elongated theropod tracks from the  Cretaceous Apenninic Carbonate  Platform of southern Latium (central Italy). Palaeontologia Electronica  18.3.49A: 1-12

 

Yes, you guessed. The location is in the same region