New dinosaur footprints exposed in rocks of the Wessex Formation, Lower Cretaceous, at Sandown, Isle of Wight, southern England

Abstract

storm waves removed sufficient sand from the foreshore at Sandown beach on the Isle of Wight to expose a number of Lower Cretaceous interbedded fluvial sand sheets and floodplain mudstones from the upper part of the Wessex Formation terrestrial sequence. The sand bodies have been described before, and exhibit a number of water generated ripple marks, as well as bioturbation by burrowing organisms. These sand bodies and a fossiliferous limestone have resulted in the area being designated as a Regionally Important Geological/Geomorphological Site. The mudstones show colour mottling as a result of pedogenic alteration in changing aerobic/anaerobic conditions. From February until the end of May 2007 sufficient exposure of the bedrock on the foreshore occurred to allow identification of a number of dinosaur footprints. Tridactyl and polydactyl prints with a range of sizes were clearly visible with possible ornithopod, theropod, sauropod, and ankylosaur origins. Within the intervening mudstones, preservation of the footprints takes the form of greyblue infills in red mud, and brown silty infills in red mud (convex hyporeliefs), as well as occasional raised gritty footprint casts. On the sandstone units, the preservation is in the form of raised sandy casts. The greatest variety in terms of size and type are in the mudstone units on the seaward side of the Isle of Wight Zoo (The Granite Fort). These prints are from an area that does not appear to have been previously reported but which requires further investigation.

Working with the Public: How an Unusual Museum Enquiry Turned into Travels Through Time and Space

“…) to cockroaches (Hancock, 2015, pers comm.). Some donations through enquiries have even resulted in new scientific publications, including gastroliths containing remains of invasive crayfish (Mortimer et al 2012), dinosaur footprints (Price, 2014), the Happisburgh handaxe (Parfitt et al 2010) and ichthyosaur remains (Brusatte et al 2015). Clearly, there are benefits for the public and for the museum.…”