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A NEW TRACKSITE IN SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO

Eric Kappus and William C. Cornell

Eric Kappus. Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968 [email protected] William C. Cornell. Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968 [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Several large tridactyl undertracks made by between four and six are preserved on a single bedding plane in the Anapra Sandstone (Late , Creta- ceous) at Cerro de Cristo Rey, Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Because the Anapra Sandstone is herein correlated lithostratigraphically and ichnotaxonomically with the Sandstone, it is proposed that these tracks extend the southern geographic range of the Dakota Megatracksite Complex approximately 500 km. We assign the tracks described here to the ichnogenus Magnoavipes based on morphology and age (latest Albian), although several of the tracks are larger than any published data on this ichnotaxon. Also, the presence of Caririchnium along with Magnoavipes has biostrati- graphic significance and confirms the value of the ichnofacies concept.

Copyright: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology - September 2003 Submission 19 December 2002 - Acceptance 11 June 2003 KEY WORDS: dinosaur, Mid-Cretaceous, New Mexico Tracksite, Dakota Megatracksite, Magnoavipes, Caririchnium ichnofacies, ichnofacies

INTRODUCTION (Lockley and Hunt 1995) by approximately 500 km. The site described here includes eight moderately A previously undescribed series of tridactyl well-preserved undertracks and other additional dinosaur footprints are described from the Mid-Cre- poorly preserved tracks in a shale quarry on the taceous Anapra Sandstone (Strain 1976) also northern flank of Cerro de Cristo Rey in southern- known as the Sarten Member of the Mojado For- most Doña Ana County, New Mexico (Figure 1). mation (Lucas and Estep 1998; Kappus et al. in Cristo Rey is a hypabyssal andesite pluton of press). The presence of these tracks may expand Eocene age (Lovejoy 1976). the southern geographic boundary of the Albian- Size and pace length differences among the Cenomanian “Dinosaur Freeway” (Lockley et al. tracks suggest that at least five individual dino- 1992) or the “Dakota Megatracksite Complex”

Kappus, Eric, and William C. Cornell, 2003. A New Cretaceous Dinosaur Tracksite in Southern New Mexico. Palaeontologia Electronica 6(3):6pp, 481KB; http://palaeo-electronica.org/paleo/2003_1/track/issue1_03.htm KAPPUS AND CORNELL: CRETACEOUS DINOSAUR TRACKSITE

STRATIGRAPHY AND AGE Stratigraphy Strain (1976) divided the Anapra Sandstone into three sandstone members and one silty shale member (see Figure 2.1). Total thickness of the Anapra varies from 52.5 m to 64 m due to tectonic thinning of the shales around the pluton, Cerro de Cristo Rey. Footprints are preserved at the top of the second sandstone member (Figure 2.1), a tidal and littoral unit (LeMone and Kotlowski 1996) which consists of thin to massive beds of fine- to medium-grained, ferruginous sandstone and inter- bedded dark grey shales. Underlying cross beds are truncated by the track-bearing bed described here. Marine shales (Mesilla Valley Formation FIGURE 1. Map of New Mexico showing dinosaur track- below and Del Rio Clay above) bracket the Anapra sites. The tracksite described here is indicated by the (Strain 1976; figure 2b). oysters (Exogyra tridactyl footprint symbol. whitneyi ) occur in the top-most 1–2 m of the Anapra; worm castings and poorly preserved twig/ saurs were present. The direction of progression stem-like land plant material occur on some sand- (parallel to footlength, see Lockley et al. 1999) of stone bed tops. Lignite laminae occur (LeMone all of the tracks except one is a westerly (present- and Kotlowski 1996) in the siltstone that overlies day) direction. An east-progressing track is the the tracks. Sedimentary structures within the same size as two of the others. It could have been Anapra sandstones include extensive cross-beds, made by one of the five individuals, or it could be ripple marks, and channel-fill sequences indicating the track of a sixth dinosaur. that deposition of the Anapra took place on a tidal shoal to fluvial-paludal delta complex along the

FIGURE 2. 2.1. Simplified stratigraphic section of the Anapra Sandstone (numbers refer to units from Strain 1976) showing the stratigraphic location of the tracksite described. Study horizons indicated by the tridactyl footprint symbol. 2.2. Nomenclature and correlation of Lower Cretaceous rocks in New Mexicofrom Lucas and Estep 1998.

2 KAPPUS AND CORNELL: CRETACEOUS DINOSAUR TRACKSITE northern margin of the Chihuahuan embayment Age (LeMone and Kotlowski 1996). For general stratig- The Albian/Cenomanian boundary was raphy of the Cerro de Cristo Rey uplift, see Lovejoy placed (Strain 1976) at the contact between the (1976). underlying Mesilla Valley Shale and the Anapra, Lithologically, the Anapra Sandstone resem- and Strain (1976) correlated the Anapra with the bles coeval clastic rocks in the region and has Main Street Formation (Cenomanian) of the Wash- been renamed as the Sarten Member of the ita Group in central Texas. We have found that Mojado Formation by Lucas and Estep (1998). We lens-like accumulations (<5 cm thick) of foramin- support this correlation but will refer to the Sarten iferal (Cribratina texana packstone occur sporadi- Member as the Anapra Sandstone here for clarity cally throughout the Mesilla Valley Shale, but are and simplicity. The Anapra is assigned to the Ple- not found in overlying strata. These sioturrilites brazoensis ammonite zone of latest indicate that the Mesilla Valley is Albian in age Albian age (Lucas and Estep 1998) based on (Loeblich and Tappan 1964). The presence of Exo- stratigraphic correlation with the Sarten Member of gyra whitneyi in the upper 1–2 m of the Anapra, the Mojado Formation (Figure 2.2). The Anapra and in the overlying Del Rio clay indicates that the correlates lithostratigraphically with part of the Albian/Cenomanian boundary falls somewhere Dakota Sandstone, and so broadly correlates within the Anapra. Lucas and Estep (1998) placed stratigraphically to the Dinosaur Freeway of Lock- the Albian/Cenomanian boundary at the top of the ley et al. (1992). In the San Andres Mountains (60 Anapra, at the Anapra/Del Rio contact. In this inter- miles to the north), east of Las Cruces, New Mex- pretation, the Anapra is chronologically equivalent ico, outcrops of the Fryingpan Spring Member of to the Mesa Rica Sandstone, a dinosaur footprint- the Mojado Formation (Lucas and Estep 1998) and bearing unit in northeastern New Mexico. Scott the overlying Dakota Sandstone are present (1970) correlated the Mesa Rica of New Mexico (Lucas and Estep 1998). Historically there has with the Dakota of southeastern Colorado. been some disagreement about which unit of the Mojado Formation is present beneath the Dakota TRACKSITE DESCRIPTION at this locality, and what the thickness is. We con- cur with Lucas and Estep (1998) as stated above, The undertracks described here lie on a tec- due to the petrologic similarity of the Fryingpan tonically tilted bedding surface that strikes 120º Spring Member to the Mesilla Valley Shale ( Strain and dips 65º to the northeast, and occur in an area 1976), which underlies the Anapra Sandstone approximately 2 m wide by 5 m long (Figure 3.1) in (Sarten Member) locally, and due to the petrologic an inactive quarry 0.3 km east and 0.25 km north of similarity of the Dakota Sandstone to the Anapra. the southwest corner of Section 9, R4E, T29S, in In northern New Mexico, westernmost Okla- the Smeltertown TX-NM 7.5 minute quadrangle, on homa, and southern Colorado, dinosaur tracksites posted private property. in the Dakota Sandstone constitute the “Dakota The prints are preserved in convex epirelief Megatracksite Complex” (Lockley and Hunt 1995). (1–5 cm) above the sandstone bed because they These tracksites occur in numerous outcrops of the are actually sub-surface “undertracks” (Lockley Dakota, spread over the Colorado Front Range and Hunt 1995) or subsurface “compression and southeastern Colorado, westernmost Okla- shapes” (Brown 1999) preserved on a bioturbated, homa, and northeastern New Mexico. Age of the hematized sandstone bedding plane that was once sites varies but most are thought to be Late Albian- covered by a veneer of silty mud. Prints were likely Early Cenomanian. Others (Lucas et al. 2000) produced by theropod dinosaurs (see Taxonomy have argued that age disparities between individ- section below), who walked on the mud surface, ual tracksites render the “megatracksite” concept compressing the sand below and leaving under- problematic. Nonetheless, the Cristo Rey site on tracks matching the size and depth of each track. the New Mexico/Republic of Mexico border strati- The bio-compacted sand was more strongly lithi- graphically extends the geographic distribution of fied, and thus today stands out in relief from the Dakota Megatracksite 500–600 km to the south bedding plane. from northeastern New Mexico. Table 1 shows foot and pace lengths of the In Texas, approximately 400 km to the east, track-makers, as well as digit divarication angles, slightly older (Early Albian) strata contain the west- measured on the outcrop. Lettered tracks in Figure ernmost dinosaur tracks yet reported in the state. 3.1 indicate individual dinosaurs, correlated to the track data in Table 1. Also, some of the sub-surface compression shapes (“undertracks”) include fea- tures called “pressure releases” (Brown 1999)

3 KAPPUS AND CORNELL: CRETACEOUS DINOSAUR TRACKSITE

TABLE 1. Measurements of individual tracks shown in Figure 3.1. Tracks are paired by measurements and position, and pace length and digit divarication were measured on the outcrop. Foot length, Length of Digit (II-IV) Individual east to west pace divarication Pair a 29 cm, 30 cm 68 cm 80º, 80º Pair b 44 cm, ~48 cm 190 cm 70º, 70º Pair c 53 cm, 53 cm 96 cm n/a, 60º Pair d 32 cm, 34 cm 120 cm 85º, 85º Single e ~40 cm n/a 60º Single f ~44 cm n/a 80º

age (early Cenomanian) rocks in New Mexico sug- gests that the Anapra track-makers were thero- pods, and that the undertracks are attributable to the ichnogenus Magnoavipes. This ichnogenus was first described by Lee (1997) who described the tracks as large bird tracks, and hence the name, which means “big bird track.” Our assign- ment of the tracks described here to this particular ichnogenus is based on morphological similarity with the systematic ichnology of Magnoavipes in FIGURE 3. 3.1. Map of the track-bearing outcrop look- Lockley et al. (2001), as well as similarity in age to ing south-southwest with individual tracks and track Magnoavipes tracks described by Lee (1997) and pairs (Table 1) labeled. 3.2. Photo looking south-south- Lockley et al. (2001). The tracks described here, west of the track-bearing outcrop. Fracture illustrated in like all tracks attributable to the ichnogenus Mag- 3.1 extends from left-center margin to top-center margin noavipes, have long, slender toes, which gently of photo. taper to a sharp point or claw impression. The total angles of digit divarication are wide (60º–85º), with observable angles between digits II and III being which support measurements of pace length and commonly smaller than between digits III and IV. therefore relative speed of movement of the ani- The average footprint length to width ratio is 1.07 mals. For example, the pace length of dinosaur “b” (range of 0.87–1.43), which is also characteristic of is much longer than dinosaur “c,” even though “c” tracks attributed Magnoavipes (Lockley et al. has a longer foot length (Table 1, Figure 3.1), indi- 2001). cating that “b” was moving more rapidly The Magnoavipes undertracks described than was “c.” This interpretation is supported by the herein differ in several details from published data. presence of pressure releases of greater intensity, For example, several of the tracks are much larger showing greater effort in maintaining forward than previously described Magnoavipes tracks of motion (Brown 1999). Thulborn (1990) noted struc- the Dinosaur Freeway. Previously studied tracks tures within tracks that are distortions caused by are up to 38 cm in length (Lockley et al. 2001), nodes on the digits of the foot. However at this whereas the tracks at Cristo Rey reach lengths of time, it appears that the pressure releases are not 53 cm. Also, at the outcrop mapped in this study, simply distortion by the digital nodes. undertracks of Magnoavipes are the only ichnoge- In addition to the prints described herein, nus present. additional tracks of other dinosaurs and other rep- Tracks of the ichnogenus Caririchnium (and tiles have been found at several other locations in possibly Amblydactylus) are also found in great the area (Kappus et al. in press). abundance at several other sites around Cristo Rey in association with additional tracks attributed TAXONOMY to the ichnogenus Magnoavipes (Kappus et al. in press). Caririchnium tracks have bilobate heels, Comparison of the Anapra prints with illus- whereas similar Amblydactylus tracks have trated prints (Lockley and Hunt 1995; Lucas et al. rounded heels. This is presently the principal char- 2000; Lockley et al. 2001; Thulborn 1990) from acteristic used to distinguish them from each other, middle-Cretaceous strata, as well as other Dakota-

4 KAPPUS AND CORNELL: CRETACEOUS DINOSAUR TRACKSITE although shape and orientation of the pads of the High Plains; Colorado, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, foot (Brown 1999) may prove to be valuable in the p. 3954. In Flores, R. (ed.) Mesozoic of the West- future. The presence of crescent-shaped manus ern Interior, SEPM Midyear Meeting Fieldtrip prints is also associated with Caririchnium, but not Guidebook, SEPM, Denver. Amblydactylus (Lockley and Hunt 1995). Lockley, M.G., Hunt, A.P., and Meyer, C. 1994. Verte- Caririchnium is distinguishable from Mag- brate Tracks and the Ichnofacies Concept: Implica- noavipes by the presence of wider, blunt-ended tions for Paleoecology and Palichnostratigraphy, pp. toes with smaller digit divarication angles (Thulborn 241–268, In Donovan, S. (ed.), The Paleobiology 1990). Digit III of the Caririchnium tracks is also of Trace , Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York. shorter in comparison to digits II and IV, whereas in Lockley, M. and Hunt, A.P. 1995. Dinosaur Tracks Magnoavipes digit III is longer (Thulborn 1990). and other fossil footprints of the western United Also, Magnoavipes tracks are elevated digitigrade States. Columbia University Press, New York. (see Figure 3.1), while Caririchnium is plantigrade, Lockley, M.G., Kirkland, J., DeCourten, F. and Hasiotis, S. 1999. Dinosaur tracks from the Cedar Mountain showing the bilobate heel impressions mentioned Formation of Eastern Utah: a preliminary report, pp. above. 253–257. In Gillette, D. D. (ed.). Utah Geological The presence of Caririchnium along with Mag- Survey. Miscellaneous Publ. 99-1. noavipes has biostratigraphic significance and sup- Lockley, M.G., Lucas, S.G., and Hunt, A.P. 2000. Dino- ports the value of the ichnofacies concept saur Tracksites in New Mexico: A Review, pp. 9–16, described by Lockley et al. (1994). More research Dinosaur of New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of on the Cristo Rey tracksite is needed to assess Natural History and Science. Bulletin 17. Albuquer- whether or not this tracksite can be included in the que, New Mexico. “Caririchnium ichnofacies” of Lockley et al. (1994). Lockley, M.G., Wright, J.L., and Matsukawa, M. 2001. A New Look at Magnoavipes and So-Called “Big Bird” ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Tracks from Dinosaur Ridge (Cretaceous, Colorado), The Mountain Geologist, 38: 137–146. R.P. Langford and D.V. LeMone reviewed Loeblich, A.R. and Tappan, H. 1964. Treatise on drafts of this paper. The American Eagle Brick Invertebrate Paleontology, Part C, Protista 2. Company allowed access to its property and is pro- Geological Society of America and University of viding security for the trackway sites. P.C. Goodell, Kansas Press, Boulder, Colorado and Lawrence, S. Lucas, A. Heckert, A. Hunt, and J. Lyons aided Kansas, pp. 1–900. Kappus with fieldwork and critical interpretations. Lovejoy, E.M.P. 1976. Geology of Cerro de Cristo Rey Comments from two anonymous reviewers have Uplift, Chihuahua and New Mexico. New Mexico been helpful in clarifying our concepts. Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources Memoir 31. REFERENCES Lucas, S.G. and Estep, J.W. 1998. Lithostratigraphy and Biostratigraphy of the Lower-Middle Cretaceous Bis- Brown, T. 1999. The Science and Art of Tracking. bee Group, southwestern New Mexico, USA, pp. 39– Berkley Books, New York. 55. In Lucas, S. G., Kirkland, J. I., and Estep, J. W. Kappus, E. J., Lucas, S.G., Hunt, A. P., Heckert, A. B., (eds.) Lower and Middle Cretaceous Terrestrial and Lockley, M.G. In Press. Dinosaur footprints from Ecosystems. New Mexico Museum of Natural His- the Lower Cretaceous Sarten Member of the Mojado tory and Science Bulletin 14. Albuquerque, New Formation at Cerro de Cristo Rey, Doña Ana County, Mexico. New Mexico, Bill Sarjeant Tribute issue, Ichnos. Lucas, S.G., Heckert, A.B., and Sullivan, R.M. 2000. Lee, Y-N. 1997. Bird and Dinosaur Footprints in the Cretaceous Dinosaurs in New Mexico, pp. 83–90. In Woodbine Formation (Cenomanian), Texas, Creta- Lucas, S. G. and Heckert, A. B. (eds.) Dinosaurs of ceous Research, 18: 849–864. New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural His- LeMone, D.V. and Kotlowski, F.E. 1996. Transitional tory and Science. Bulletin 17. Albuquerque, New medial Cretaceous Tethyan-Western Interior basin Mexico. relationships in the south-central New Mexico-far Scott, R.A. 1970. Stratigraphy and sedimentary environ- West Texas border region, Abstracts with Pro- ments of Lower Cretaceous rocks, southern Western gram, Geological Society of America 28:123. Interior: Am. Assn. Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 54: Lockley, M.G., Holbrook, J., Hunt, A.P., Matsukawa, M., 1225-1244 and Meyer, C. 1992. The dinosaur freeway: a prelim- inary report on the Cretaceous Megatracksite, Dakota Group, Rocky Mountain Front Range and

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Strain, W.S. 1976. New Formation Names in the Creta- Thulborn, R.A. 1990. Dinosaur Tracks, Chapman & ceous at Cerro de Cristo Rey, Doña Ana County, Hall, London. New Mexico, pp. 77–82. In Lovejoy, E. M. P. L. Geology of Cerro de Cristo Rey Uplift, Chihua- hua and New Mexico. New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir 31. Socorro, New Mexico.

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