Butler Richard J, Edgar Kirsty M, Haller Lewis, Meade Luke E, Jones Harry T, Hill Oliver, Scriven Sam, Reedman Christopher
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Jurassic Coast Trust, Brooklands Farm, Forston, Dorchester DT2 7AA, UK.
R Soc Open Sci. 2024 Jul 3;11(7):240583. doi: 10.1098/rsos.240583. eCollection 2024 Jul.
Dinosaur tracks have a long history of discovery and study in the UK, but track sites for sauropodomorph dinosaurs-the group that included the giant, graviportal herbivorous sauropods-are comparatively rare. Here, we provide a description of a sauropod dinosaur track site at Spyway Quarry in Dorset, southern England. The tracks at Spyway were discovered in the late 1990s and occur in the Stair Hole Member of the Durlston Formation in the Purbeck Limestone Group, of earliest Cretaceous age. More than 130 individual tracks of large sauropod dinosaurs are present at the site, but they are generally poorly preserved and do not form clear trackways, although it is likely that they represent multiple individuals. They provide further evidence for sauropods living in or passing through coastal lagoonal environments. Although poorly preserved, Spyway represents the largest dinosaur track site currently accessible within the Purbeck Group, with considerable potential for further discoveries through ongoing quarrying in the surrounding area.
恐龙足迹在英国有着悠久的发现和研究历史,但蜥脚形亚目恐龙(包括巨型、笨重的草食性蜥脚类恐龙)的足迹遗址相对较少。在此,我们对英格兰南部多塞特郡斯派韦采石场的一个蜥脚类恐龙足迹遗址进行了描述。斯派韦的足迹于20世纪90年代末被发现,位于普尔贝克石灰岩组达尔斯顿组的楼梯洞段,地质年代为早白垩世。该遗址有130多个大型蜥脚类恐龙的单个足迹,但它们通常保存不佳,没有形成清晰的足迹道,不过很可能代表了多个个体。它们为蜥脚类恐龙生活在或经过沿海泻湖环境提供了进一步的证据。尽管保存不佳,但斯派韦是目前普尔贝克组内可进入的最大恐龙足迹遗址,随着周边地区持续采石,有很大的进一步发现潜力。