Romilio Anthony, Hacker Jorg M, Zlot Robert, Poropat George, Bosse Michael, Salisbury Steven W
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland , Brisbane , Queensland , Australia.
Airborne Research Australia, Flinders University of South Australia , Adelaide , South Australia , Australia.
PeerJ. 2017 Mar 21;5:e3013. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3013. eCollection 2017.
The abundant dinosaurian tracksites of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian-Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia, form an important part of the West Kimberley National Heritage Place. Previous attempts to document these tracksites using traditional mapping techniques (e.g., surface overlays, transects and gridlines combined with conventional photography) have been hindered by the non-trivial challenges associated with working in this area, including, but not limited to: (1) the remoteness of many of the tracksites; (2) the occurrence of the majority of the tracksites in the intertidal zone; (3) the size and complexity of many of the tracksites, with some extending over several square kilometres. Using the historically significant and well-known dinosaurian tracksites at Minyirr (Gantheaume Point), we show how these issues can be overcome through the use of an integrated array of remote sensing tools. A combination of high-resolution aerial photography with both manned and unmanned aircraft, airborne and handheld high-resolution lidar imaging and handheld photography enabled the collection of large amounts of digital data from which 3D models of the tracksites at varying resolutions were constructed. The acquired data encompasses a very broad scale, from the sub-millimetre level that details individual tracks, to the multiple-kilometre level, which encompasses discontinuous tracksite exposures and large swathes of coastline. The former are useful for detailed ichnological work, while the latter are being employed to better understand the stratigraphic and temporal relationship between tracksites in a broader geological and palaeoecological context. These approaches and the data they can generate now provide a means through which digital conservation and temporal monitoring of the Dampier Peninsula's dinosaurian tracksites can occur. As plans for the on-going management of the tracks in this area progress, analysis of the 3D data and 3D visualization will also likely provide an important means through which the broader public can experience these spectacular National Heritage listed landscapes.
西澳大利亚丹皮尔半岛下白垩统（瓦兰吉尼阶—巴雷姆阶）布鲁姆砂岩中丰富的恐龙足迹遗址，是西金伯利国家遗产地的重要组成部分。此前尝试使用传统测绘技术（如地表覆盖图、样线和网格线结合传统摄影）记录这些足迹遗址时，受到了该地区作业相关的诸多重大挑战的阻碍，包括但不限于：（1）许多足迹遗址位置偏远；（2）大多数足迹遗址位于潮间带；（3）许多足迹遗址规模大且复杂，有些延伸超过数平方公里。利用米尼尔（甘西厄姆角）具有历史意义且广为人知的恐龙足迹遗址，我们展示了如何通过使用一系列综合遥感工具来克服这些问题。高分辨率航空摄影与有人驾驶和无人驾驶飞机、机载和手持式高分辨率激光雷达成像以及手持式摄影相结合，使得能够收集大量数字数据，并据此构建了不同分辨率的足迹遗址三维模型。获取的数据涵盖范围极广，从详细记录单个足迹的亚毫米级别，到包含不连续足迹遗址露头和大片海岸线的数公里级别。前者有助于进行详细的遗迹学研究，而后者则用于在更广泛的地质和古生态背景下更好地理解足迹遗址之间的地层和时间关系。这些方法及其所能生成的数据，现在为丹皮尔半岛恐龙足迹遗址的数字保护和时间监测提供了一种途径。随着该地区足迹持续管理计划的推进，对三维数据的分析和三维可视化也可能为广大公众体验这些列入国家遗产名录的壮观景观提供重要途径。
