Early Cretaceous Dinosaur Footprints Discovered in Southern England

Paleontologists in southern England have uncovered a set of well-preserved footprints made by at least seven different dinosaur species about 140 million years ago (Early Cretaceous epoch).

Two large iguanodontian footprints with skin and claw impressions from the Lee Ness Sandstone of the Ashdown Formation. Image credit: Neil Davies.

University of Cambridge researchers Anthony Shillito and Neil Davies discovered a collection of 85 dinosaur footprints in the Lee Ness Sandstone of the Ashdown Formation, in a near-continuous 3.7-mile (6 km) long coastal cliff section extending between Fairlight Cove and Hastings in East Sussex, England.

The footprints were left by herbivorous dinosaurs, including Iguanodon, Ankylosaurus, a species of stegosaur, and possible examples from the sauropod group (which included Diplodocus and Brontosaurus); as well as carnivorous theropods.

They range in size from less than 0.8 inches (2 cm) to over 23 inches (60 cm) across and are so well-preserved that fine detail of skin, scales and claws is easily visible.

“Whole body fossils of dinosaurs are incredibly rare,” Shillito said.

“Usually you only get small pieces, which don’t tell you a lot about how that dinosaur may have lived. A collection of footprints like this helps you fill in some of the gaps and infer things about which dinosaurs were living in the same place at the same time.”

Dinosaur skin textures on footprint casts from the base of the Lee Ness Sandstone. (A, B) Polygonal skin texture on a theropod footprint cast: (A) the full extent of the texture on the toe of the footprint cast; black box shows the extent of B; (B) a close up of the skin texture in A; it is comprised of small, raised sub-rounded polygons; polygons are fairly uniform with small differences in eccentricity. (C, D) Skin texture on an ornithopod footprint cast: (C) extent of the skin texture on the side of the footprint cast; black box shows the extent of D; (D) a close up of the skin texture in (C); polygons are more pronounced than those in (B), with a greater microtopography but similar size and shapes. Scale bars – 1 cm. Image credit: Anthony P. Shillito Neil S. Davies, doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.11.018.

In the Cretaceous period, the area where the footprints were found was likely near a water source, and in addition to the footprints, a number of fossilized plants and invertebrates were also found.

“To preserve footprints, you need the right type of environment,” Dr. Davies said.

“The ground needs to be ‘sticky’ enough so that the footprint leaves a mark, but not so wet that it gets washed away. You need that balance in order to capture and preserve them.”

“As well as the large abundance and diversity of these prints, we also see absolutely incredible detail,” Shillito added.

“You can clearly see the texture of the skin and scales, as well as four-toed claw marks, which are extremely rare.”

“You can get some idea about which dinosaurs made them from the shape of the footprints — comparing them with what we know about dinosaur feet from other fossils lets you identify the important similarities.”

“When you also look at footprints from other locations you can start to piece together which species were the key players.”

The discovery is described in a paper published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

_____

Anthony P. Shillito Neil S. Davies. 2019. Dinosaur-landscape interactions at a diverse Early Cretaceous tracksite (Lee Ness Sandstone, Ashdown Formation, southern England). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 514: 593-612; doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.11.018