NOTE: This one is open access but the free pdf link is apparently not yet available.
Fabio Massimo Petti, Marco Petruzzelli, Jacopo Conti, Luigi Spalluto, Alexander Wagensommer, Massimiliano Lamendola, Roberto Francioso, Giovanni Montrone, Luisa Sabato, and Marcello Tropeano (2018)
The use of aerial and close-range photogrammetry in the study of dinosaur tracksites: Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian/lower Albian) Molfetta ichnosite (Apulia, southern Italy).Â
Palaeontologia Electronica 21.3.3T 1-19.Â
Accurate mapping and three-dimensional models are crucial for studying dinosaur tracks and tracksites at different scales. The use of small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for mapping and three-dimensional modelling is becoming increasingly common, allowing the capture of high-resolution images comparable to those obtained by terrestrial laser scanners and manned aerial photogrammetry, but with reduced working costs and rapid execution times. The Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian/lower Albian) Molfetta dinosaur tracksite (Apulia, southern Italy), was used as a test area to evaluate the results of UAV based photogrammetry. We used two different drones having different technical features and for which we set different flight parameters. Ground-based photogrammetry on single footprints was also performed, in the light of the recent introduction of high-resolution digital cameras and powerful processing software, with the aim to evaluate its impact on ichnological, ichnotaxonomical, and ichnosystematic analyses. The accuracy of three-dimensional models, digital elevation models, and orthophotos generated by UAV images is extremely high and allows for rapid mapping and description of vast and/or hardly accessible tracksites with higher accuracy than that obtained from traditional field data or from digital airphotos. By coupling ground- and aerial-based photogrammetry, ichnologists can rapidly obtain consistent and affordable digital models useful to study dinosaur tracksites both at the meso- (track) and macroscale (ichnosite). The adoption of aerial and close-range photogrammetry will allow for the rapid production of data with sustainable costs that can be used both by specialists and as a means of conservation and dissemination of knowledge to the public.
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From the end of last year and not yet mentioned:
Patrick Chellouche (2017)Â
Erstnachweis chirotheriider Spuren (cf. Brachychirotherium) im frÃnkischen Buntsandstein (Olenekium/Anisium) des Landkreises RhÃn-Grabfeld (Hohenroth bei Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale).Â
[First evidence of chirotherian tracks (cf. Brachychirotherium) in the Franconian Buntsandstein (Olenekium/Anisium) of the RhÃn-Grabfeld District (Hohenroth bei Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale). ]
Geologische BlÃtter fÃr Nordost-Bayern 67: 87-112Â
[A very quick, rough English translation of the abstract (corrections welcome!)]
A new chirotherian site from the Lower Buntsandstein (Early Anisian) Lower Franconia is described. Two partial chirotherian footprints, in positive hyporelief, and several scratch marks were discovered in an abandoned quarry in the community of Hohenroth in the southeastern part of the RhÃn-Grabfeld district. The sandstone blocks, which were split open in the quarry and remain on site, can be classifiedÂlithostratigraphically in the Solling Formation of the upper Middle Buntsandstein and thus represent the Olenekium/Anisium boundary. A 16.2 cm long and 11.3 cm wide right pes impression (T1) with three well preserved toes and claw impressions is preserved on the underside of a 60 cm thick bed of gray-yellow, medium-grained, slightly inclined sandstone. In addition, there are presumed scratch marks (T3-T6). Another tridactyl step impression (T2) in the form of an undertrack with a length of 14.6 cm and a width of 14.1 cm was found on the underside of another block of sandstone. Two generations of mudcrack networks as positive casts indicate multiple drying out events on the former sediment surface. The morphology of the foot marks allows a provisional assignment to the ichnogenus cf. Brachychirotherium. The track maker is assumed to be a rauisuchian archosaur due to the stratigraphic position of the finds. The track find closes an approximately 60 km wide, paleogeographic gap between the same age chirotherian localities near Euerdorf in the southwest adjoining district of Bad Kissingen and the famous Chirotherium sites Hildburghausen and Harras in southern Thuringia. It is another indication of the cosmopolitan occurrence of large archosaurs in the Germanic Basin of central Germany at the time of the Buntsandstein deposits.
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Eine neue Chirotherien-LokalitÃt aus dem Mittleren Buntsandstein (frÃhes Anisium) Unterfrankens wird beschrieben. Der Fund zweier partiell, in positivem Hyporelief erhaltener, chirotheriiden Trittsiegel, sowie mehrerer Kratzmarken erfolgte in einem aufgelassenen Steinbruch der Gemeinde Hohenroth im sÃdÃstlichen Teil des Landkreises RhÃn-Grabfeld. Die im Steinbruch gebrochenen und vor Ort verbliebenen SandsteinblÃcke lassen sich lithostratigraphisch in die Solling-Formation des obersten Mittleren Buntsandsteins einordnen und reprÃsentieren damit den Olenekium/Anisium Grenzbereich. Auf der Unterseite einer ca. 60 cm mÃchtigen Bank graugelben, mittelkÃrnigen, schwach schrÃggeschichteten Sandsteins wurde ein 16,2 cm langer und 11,3 cm breiter rechter Pes-Abdruck (T1) mit drei gut erhaltenen Zehen und KralleneindrÃcken Ãberliefert. Daneben finden sich vermutliche Kratzmarken (T3-T6). Auf der Unterseite eines weiteren Sandsteinblocks fand sich ein weiteres tridactyles Trittsiegel (T2) in Form eines Undertracks mit einer LÃnge von 14,6 cm und einer Breite von 14,1 cm. Zwei Generationen von Netzleisten zeigen das mehrfache Austrocknen der damaligen SedimentflÃche an. Die Morphologie der Trittsiegel erlaubt eine vorlÃufige Zuordnung zur Ichnogattung cf. Brachychirotherium. Als Verursacher der Trittsiegel wird auf Grund der stratigraphischen Position der Funde ein rauisuchider Archosaurier angenommen. Der FÃhrtenfund schlieÃt eine ca. 60 km groÃe, palÃogeographische LÃcke zwischen den gleichaltrigen Chirotherien-LokalitÃten bei Euerdorf im sÃdwestlich anschlieÃenden Landkreis Bad Kissingen und den berÃhmten ChirotherienfundstÃtten Hildburghausen und Harras in SÃdthÃringen. Er ist ein weiterer Hinweis auf das kosmopolite Vorkommen groÃer Archosaurier im Germanischen Becken Mitteldeutschlands zur Zeit des Buntsandsteins.
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Shu-Zhong Shen, Jahandar Ramezani, Jun Chen, Chang-Qun Cao, Douglas H. Erwin, Hua Zhang, Lei Xiang, Shane D. Schoepfer, Charles M. Henderson, Quan-Feng Zheng, Samuel A. Bowring, Yue Wang, Xian-Hua Li, Xiang-Dong Wang, Dong-Xun Yuan, Yi-Chun Zhang, Lin Mu, Jun Wang & Ya-Sheng Wu (2018)
A sudden end-Permian mass extinction in South ChinaÂ
Geological Society of America Bulletin (advance online publication)
Previous studies of the end-Permian mass extinction have established that it was geologically rapid, but condensed sections have made it difficult to establish the exact timing of the extinction relative to fluctuations in the ocean carbon cycle, oxygen levels, and temperature. Integrated high-precision U-Pb geochronology, biostratigraphy, and chemostratigraphy from a highly expanded section at Penglaitan, Guangxi, South China reveal a sudden end-Permian mass extinction that occurred at 251.939 Â 0.031 Ma, which is temporally coincident with the extinction recorded in Bed 25 of the Meishan section. Despite the significantly expanded nature of the section and extensive collecting of more than ten major marine fossil groups, there is no evidence of a decline of biotic diversity prior to the extinction interval and no Permian-type species survive the extinction at this location. Fossil range data suggest a nearly instantaneous extinction at the top of a narrow stratigraphic interval limited to 31 Â 31 k.y. The extinction was preceded by and/or accompanied by fluctuations in Î13Ccarb and Î13Corg of 2â3â, and 3â5 ÂC in seawater temperature. A larger, more rapid seawater temperature rise of 6â8 ÂC immediately followed the extinction level at Penglaitan. The extinction is spatially associated with a thick unit of tuff and tuffaceous sandstones (Bed 141) indicating massive pyroclastic input. It is correlative with an ash layer (Bed 25) in the deeper water setting at Meishan, where some Permian-type organisms survived the extinction. Our study reveals that the survivability of Permian taxa after the major extinction pulse is variable and dependent upon the severity of environmental perturbation in different sedimentary settings. The sudden extinction may fit a scenario in which the onset of Siberian Traps and South China intensive volcanism â420 k.y. before the extinction may have diminished the ecological resilience of communities and reduced ecological functions with little change in diversity. In such an environmentally stressed condition, a single environmental disturbance could trigger the sudden collapse of global ecosystems.
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