Dinosaur footprints in the Baños del Flaco Formation (Tithonian-Upper Jurassic), VI Region, Chile: paleoethology and paleoenvironment.

Abstract

The characteristics of dinosaur footprints (Baños del Flaco Formation) and also the microfacies of the associated beds were analyzed. Through the footprints it was possible to interpret aspects of the dinosaur's behavior, which were very similar to the extant faunas from the African savannah, with preferred progression parallel to the margin of the water body (northwest-southeast). The ichnocoenosis corresponds to ornithopod theropodsauropod (OTS) and it is related, in general aspects, to the Brontopodus ichnofacies. It is inferred that the depositional environment corresponded to a lagoon shore of a shallow carbonate platform from tropical to subtropical climate. Bioherms indicate the local position of the sea. The ichnites are located on the continental shore of the lagoon and their preservation was due to the deposition of a layer of pyroclastic material that quickly buried them.