New Tridactyl Dinosaur Footprints from the Lower Cretaceous of the Atacama Region, Northern Chile

Abstract

We report here new evidence of tridactyl dinosaur footprints, comprising nine isolated footprints from a new locality in the Atacama Region, northern Chile. The track-bearing levels are located mainly at La Descubridora ravine and one isolated track near the intersection between La Descubridora and Carrizalillo ravines, approximately 11 km southeast from Tierra Amarilla town; the studied levels are assigned to the Pabellon Formation (Lower Cretaceous). The icnites correspond at least to two dinosaur forms, mainly ornithopods (with affinities to Hadrosauriformes dinosaurs) and theropod footprints. These are the first well-documented dinosaur icnites and the first record of ornithopod footprints from the Atacama Region. This record expands the knowledge of cretaceous ornithopods in Chile, which previously were only known from Chacarilla and Quehuita formations, Tarapacá Region, Baños del Flaco Formation in O'Higgins Region and Dorotea Formation in Magallanes Region.