First evidence of sauropod tracks in the Lower Cretaceous of the Algarve Basin (Portugal)

POSTER PRESENTATION 216

First evidence of sauropod tracks in the Lower

Cretaceous of the Algarve Basin (Portugal)

V.F. Santos

, M. Agostinho

, F. Barroso-Barcenilla

, P.M. Callapez

,

D. Castanera

, P. Fernandes

, B.T. Oliveira

, L.A. Rodrigues

,

M. Segura

a

Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, Universidade de Lisboa, 1250-102

Lisboa, Portugal (* corresponding author; vsantos@museus.ul.pt) (^ presenting

author)

b

Escola Secundária Gil Eanes, 8600-614 Lagos, Portugal

c

Departamento de Paleontología (Procesos Bióticos Mesozoicos), Universidad

Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

d

Departamento de Geología y Geografía (IberCreta), Universidad de Alcalá de

Henares, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Spain

e

Departamento de Ciências da Terra, Universidade de Coimbra, 3030-790 Coimbra,

Portugal

f

Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie and GeoBioCenter,

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 80333 Munich, Germany

(d.castanera@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

g

Centro de Investigação Marinho e Ambiental, Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139

Faro, Portugal (pfernandes@ualg.pt)

h

Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro,

Portugal

i

Centro Ciência Viva de Lagos/Lagos Ciência Viva Science Centre, 8600-734 Lagos,

Portugal (lrodrigues@cienciaviva.pt)

Keywords: Sauropoda, tracks, Praia dos Arrifes, Albufeira, Portugal.

The Lower Cretaceous of the Algarve Basin (South Portugal) consists mainly

of carbonate and mixed facies from inner shelf and transitional environments,

sometimes with excellent conditions for the occurrence of dinosaur tracks.

This is the case of the shoreline exposures located between Ponta da Baleeira

and Praia dos Arrifes, near Albufeira,

where cliffs are cut in vertical sandstone,

claystone, marl and limestone beds of Valanginian age

(Manuppella, 1992). The

high potential of this area to find palaeontological evidences was revealed

during fieldwork in Praia dos Arrifes, when several dinosaur tracks preserved

as natural casts were found.

On the lower surface of a sandstone bed, at least two sauropod trackways and

tridactyl footprints were recognized. They became exposed due to erosion of

the underneath greyish mudstone layer that left a space between levels. These

tracks were produced when the dinosaurs crossed sandy and chalky

sediments highly bioturbated, and sunk in the underneath muddy layer. They

testify the existence of sauropods and biped dinosaurs, possibly theropods,

living near a shallow and restricted inner shelf palaeoenvironment of a littoral

plain.

Previously, Early Cretaceous dinosaur tracksites in the Algarve Basin were

recognized only near Vila do Bispo, 17 km to the west of Lagos, where

iguanodontian footprints were described for the first time in Portugal, showing

that this group was well-represented in the Iberian Peninsula and

Southwestern Europe (Santos et al., 2000, 2013). This new tracksite yields the

first evidence of Early Cretaceous sauropods in the Algarve Basin and the

ongoing

study

will

provide

more

information

to

increase

the

PALAEOBIOLOGY OF TRACE FOSSILS 217

References

Manuppella, G. 1992. Mesozóico. In: Oliveira, J.T. (Coord.), Notícia Explicativa da folha

8, Carta Geológica de Portugal 1/200000. Serviços Geológicos de Portugal (Lisboa):

pp. 51-63.

Santos, V.F., Callapez, P.M., and Rodrigues, N.P.C. 2013. Dinosaur Footprints from the

Lower Cretaceous of the Algarve Basin (Portugal): New Data on the Ornithopod

Palaeoecology and Palaeobiogeography of the Iberian Peninsula. Cretaceous Research

40: 158-69.

Santos, V.F., Dantas, P., Moratalla, J., Terrinha, P., Coke, C., Agostinho, M., and Galopim

de Carvalho, A.M. 2000. Primeiros vestígios de dinossáurios na Orla Mesozóica

Algarvia, Portugal. In: Diez, J.B. & Balbino, A.C. (Eds.), Resumos do I Congresso Ibérico

de Paleontologia e XVI Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología,

Universidade de Évora (Évora): pp. 20-21.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

It is reccomended that reference to this book should be made as follows:

Baucon, A., Neto de Carvalho, C., Rodrigues, J. (2016). Ichnia 2016: abstract book.

UNESCO Geopark Naturtejo/International Ichnological Association, Castelo Branco.

Ichnia 2016: abstract book

edited by Andrea Baucon, Carlos Neto de Carvalho, Joana Rodrigues

First published 2016

ISBN: 978-989-97888-1-7

Ichnia 2016 Website: http://ichnia2016.org/

Ichnia 2016 Web Platform: http://ichnia2016.org/?page_id=5668

UNESCO Geopark Naturtejo: http://www.naturtejo.com/

Supporters:

The Ichnia 2016 Team

Coordination

Carlos Neto de Carvalho

Dr. Andrea Baucon (invertebrates) Dr. Vanda Santos (vertebrates) Honorary Committee

Dr. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO

Professor Dr. José Sousa Dias - Director of the National Museum of Natural History and Science of the University of Lisbon

Professor Dr. Patrick McKeever - Chief of the Section of the Global Earth Observatory, International Geosciences Correlation Program, Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences of UNESCO

Professor Dr. Nickolaos Zouros - Coordinator of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Association Professor Dr. Carlos Maia - President of the Technical Institute of Castelo Branco

Professor Dr. Ana Rita Garcia - Director of the Management College of Idanha-a-Nova Ambassador Ana Martinho - President of the National Commission for UNESCO Armindo Jacinto - Mayor of Idanha-a-Nova and President of Naturtejo Global Geopark Emeritus Professor Dr. António Galopim de Carvalho

Scientific Committee

Carlos Neto de Carvalho, Naturtejo Global Geopark, Portugal

Dr. Andrea Baucon, University of Modena, Italy/Naturtejo Global Geopark, Portugal Dr. Vanda Santos, Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, Portugal Joana Rodrigues, Naturtejo Global Geopark, Portugal

Dr. Luis Rodrigues, Director of Centro Ciência Viva de Lagos, Portugal Dr. Aram Bayet-Goll, University Ferdowski Marshhad, Iran

Professor Dr. Francisco Rodríguez-Tovar, University of Granada, Spain Dr. Soren Jensen, University of Extremadura, Spain

Dr. Zain Belaustegui, University of Barcelona, Spain Dr. Fernando Muñiz, University of Huelva, Spain

Professor Dr. Mário Cachão, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Professor Dr. Carlos Marques da Silva, University of Lisbon, Portugal Dr. Ana Santos, University of Huelva, Spain

Professor Dr. Eduardo Mayoral, University of Huelva, Spain

Professor Dr. Alfred Uchman, University Jagiellonian of Krakow, Poland Dr. Noélia Carmona, CONICET – National University of Río Negro, Argentina Dr. Jennifer Scott, University of Alberta, Canada

Professor Dr. Helena Couto, University of Oporto, Portugal Dr. Laura Piñuela, the Jurassic Museum of Asturias, Spain Dr. Novella Razzolini, Catalan Institute of Palaeontology, Spain Dr. Diego Castañera, University of Zaragoza, Spain

Dr. Bernat Vila, University of Zaragoza, Spain

Manuel Valério, Geological Interpretation Center of Canelas Professor Dr. Silvério Figueiredo, Polytechnical Institute of Tomar

Professor Dr. Ana Carneiro, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universidade Nova de Lisboa Organizing Committee

Carlos Neto de Carvalho, Idanha-a-Nova/Naturtejo Global Geopark Joana Rodrigues, Naturtejo Global Geopark

Dr. Andrea Baucon, University of Modena, Italy/ Naturtejo Global Geopark Cristina Preguiça, Idanha-a-Nova/Naturtejo Global Geopark

Sérgio Ribeiro, Naturtejo Global Geopark Alice Marcelo, Naturtejo Global Geopark

Mariana Vilas Boas, Penamacor/Naturtejo Global Geopark Carla Jacinto, Naturtejo Global Geopark

Tiago Oliveira, Idanha-a-Nova/Naturtejo Global Geopark Hugo Oliveira, Naturtejo Global Geopark

Maria Manuela Catana, Idanha-a-Nova/Naturtejo Global Geopark Marzena Biernat, Naturtejo Global Geopark

Preface

Ichnia, the International Congress on Ichnology, ran for twelve years from

2004. Over this range of time, evolution of ichnology has been rapid, therefore

the question is: where is ichnology going from now? The purpose of this book

is to tackle this question by presenting the abstracts of Ichnia 2016, the 4th

Congress on Ichnology.

The book has been designed to parallel the structure of the congress.

It consists of 8 chapters, each of which corresponds to a specific session of

Ichnia 2016, and includes more than 140 abstracts. As such, the book reflects

the collective work of the international ichnological community.

One of the issues we faced in editing the book has been how to represent the

ichnological objects discussed in the abstracts. For this reason, emphasis has

been placed on the graphical layout of the book. With more than 150 figured

traces, this book is intended not only as a collection of abstracts, but also as a

visual atlas of where ichnology is going.

We hope that this book will represent the first of the outcomes of Ichnia 2016:

Ichnology for the 21st century!

The editors

Andrea Baucon

Carlos Neto de Carvalho

Joana Rodrigues