Tracking a Legend: An Early Cretaceous Sauropod Trackway from Zhaojue County, Sichuan Province, Southwestern China

Abstract

Cretaceous tetrapod (dinosaur and pterosaur) tracks from Zhaojue County in Sichuan Province are locally very abundant. Large scale quarrying operations at the Sanbiluoga Copper Mine site have produced extensive exposures, and track material for detailed study. However, natural track-bearing outcrops also occur at a site in Jiefang Township. The traditions of the local Yi people, indigenous to the area, attribute such tracks to Zhigealu, a central creator hero-ancestor, who made the footprints while riding his heavenly steed through the area. Through seeing tracks exposed by quarrying the local people offered these legend-based interpretations, and reported the Jiefang site which was previously unknown to scientists from outside the area. Thus, it is important to pay attention to local legends about track makers since they may lead directly to significant fossil footprint discoveries. Thereby paleontology and ichnological research can benefit largely from archeological sciences as well as from oral narratives from the local people. The recently discovered sauropod trackway from Jiefang is an excellent example. It comprises 16 pes-manus sets arranged in a narrow-gauge pattern. A peculiarity is the combination of this feature with morphological characteristics known from typical wide-gauge Brontopodus trackways suggesting a tentative assignment to cf. Brontopodus. The discovery enlarges the distribution and diversity of Brontopodus-like trackways and their producers in the Cretaceous Sichuan Basin.

Keywords:

• Yi people
• Zhigealu
• Dinosaur tracks
• Brontopodus

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Adrian P. Hunt (New Mexico Museum of Natural History, USA) and Gerard D. Gierliński (Polish Geological Institute, Poland) for their critical comments and suggestions on this paper; Jun Cao, Huanxin Zhang, Hongjiang Shen, and Xiaomin Zheng (Sichuan Bureau of Geological Exploration and Development of Mineral Resources, China) and Jian Liu (Western China City Daily) for assistance and logistical support during the field expedition to study the tracks.

FUNDING

This research project was supported by China Geological Survey, 1: 50000 Lianghekou, Bier, Mishi and Zhaojue Regional Geological Surveys Mapping of Karst Stony Hills Area, Wumengshan Area, Sichuan (No: 12120113052100); and Zigong Dinosaur Museum, Sichuan, China.