T129 Eat, Prey, Love, and Burrow: Tracing Animal Behavior through Time (Posters)

Monday, 2 November 2015
9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall

HADROSAUR FOOTPRINT RECOVERED FROM A LATE MAASTRICHTION, UPPER HELL CREEK SANDSTONE IN GARFIELD COUNTY, MONTANA, UNITED STATES

Paper number: T129-24
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

The Hell Creek Formation in Montana, rich in dinosaur fossils, has a distinct paucity of dinosaur tracks. One possible tyrannosaurid track has been reported. Now we can double the number with the addition of a possibly juvenile hadrosaur track.

The track is tridactyl, has bluntly terminated digits, and is approximately equal length and width of 20 centimeters. It is in a fine-grained, cross-bedded channel sandstone. The track is in positive relief as a result of infilling and differential weathering. The sandstone is approximately 20 meters below a nearby K/Pg boundary clay.

The track was discovered in 2014 on Bureau of Land Management administered land. It was removed in 2015 and is reposited at the Johnston Geology Museum, Emporia State University.