Sauropod trackways from the Middle Jurassic Chaya Group of Eastern Tibet, China

ABSTRACT

Multiple sauropod-track-bearing horizons occur in the Middle Jurassic Shaqiaomu Formation, in the Chaya Group of Eastern Tibet. These add to the report of a previously described sauropod trackway, which is a famous tourist attraction and became part of a folkloric legend. From an ichnological point of view, multiple track-bearing levels are consistent with the previous report of sauropod tracks, but allow for recognition of nine other levels with a cumulative total of ~88 tracks from which eight recognisable trackways have been identified. These range in size (pes length) from 22.0 to 99.3 cm, with the larger ones all associated with the appropriately named Dajiaoyin (meaning ‘large footprints’) site. The presence of sauropod tracks in the finer grained argillaceous, lower energy deposits, is characteristic for terrestrial facies environments favoured by sauropods. The track-bearing layers belong to continental shelf sequences that form part of the Lower-Middle Jurassic forearc basin deposits in the southern Qiangtang subterrane.

KEYWORDS:

• Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
• Brontopodus
• mamenchisaurid
• Shunosaurus fauna

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate Lizhao Zhang who helped in field work. This research was funded by the Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, IVPP, CAS (No. LVEHO19004)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.