Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
it into the fossil record than ones that resulted from direct contact with a foot. The
penalty paid by such preservation, though, was a loss of details. For instance, two
of the tracks before me were only apparent as paired marks made by sharp claws
from two toes, when they should have had three fully formed digits.
A quick initial count of the rock surface yielded about fourteen tracks, all
showingthreeorfewertoes.Thesurfaceitselfonlyhadanareaofabout0.7m
2
(7.5
ft
2
), or the size of a typical dining room table for a family of four, so it held a lot
of information in a small space. This was a busy little piece of real estate during the
Early Cretaceous.
IusedahandheldGPSunittodocumentthelocationoftherock,anditquickly
determined the latitude-longitude coordinates of where I was standing. These were
saved as a waypoint in the unit, but I also wrote them in my field notebook just
in case the unit somehow ended up in seawater, was smashed by a falling rock, or
both. Strong waves crashed behind me, acting as a reminder for me to back up this
record of my position using old-fashioned analog methods.
This was about when Greg noticed I had become rooted to the same spot for
nearly45minutesandwritingintentlyinanotebook.Curious,heleftTomandcame
back down the beach to see what had been holding my attention. He was all smiles
as he walked up to where I sat on another boulder in front of the track-bearing slab.
“What'd you find?” he asked cheerfully.
I grinned back, gestured toward the slab surface, and said, with a mixture of
pride and awe, “Dinosaur tracks.”
Greg's jaw dropped, and he briefly looked like a stunned mullet as his eyes
took in what was there. In silence, I enjoyed watching him re-discover each dino-
saur footprint, a wonderful moment to share with a field compatriot. Once he re-
gained his voice, he exclaimed “Wow, this is fantastic!” Yes, it was.
I was curious to learn what Greg—a non-paleontologist but skilled observ-
er—would see. I asked him to point to everything he thought was a dinosaur track.
Withinafewminutesofstudyingthesurface,hequicklyidentifiednearlyeveryone
