Sauropod turning and lateral gait at West Gold Hill Dinosaur Tracksite (Upper Jurassic, Colorado) (free pdf)
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Ben Creisler
Nov 20, 2025, 12:47:45 PM (8 days ago) Nov 20
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Ben Creisler
A new paper:
Free pdf:
Anthony Romilio, Paul C. Murphey, Neffra A. Matthews, Bruce A. Schumacher, Lance D. Murphey, Marcello Toscanini, Parker Boyce and Zach Fitzner (2025)
Track by Track: Revealing Sauropod Turning and Lateralised Gait at the West Gold Hill Dinosaur Tracksite (Upper Jurassic, Bluff Sandstone, Colorado)
Geomatics 5(4): 67
doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/geomatics5040067
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7418/5/4/67
Drone photogrammetry and per-step spatial analysis were used to re-evaluate the West Gold Hill Dinosaur Tracksite (Bluff Sandstone, Colorado), which preserves an exceptionally long sauropod pes trackway. Building on earlier segment-based descriptions, we reconstructed the entire succession at millimetre-level resolution and quantified turning and gait asymmetry within an integrated digital workflow (UAV photogrammetry, Blender-based landmarking, scripted analysis). Of 134 footprints previously reported, 131 were confidently identified along a mapped path of 95.489 m that records 340° cumulative anticlockwise reorientation. Traditional end-point tortuosity (direct distance/trackway length; DL/TL) yields a moderate ratio of 0.462, whereas our incremental analysis isolates a fully looped subsection (tracks 38–83) with tortuosity of 0.0001 (DL 0.005 m; TL 34.825 m), revealing extreme local curvature that global (end-to-end) measures dilute. Gauge varies substantially along the trackway: the traditional metric (single pes width) averages 32.2% (wide gauge) with numerous medium-gauge representatives, while footprint-specific (‘incremental’) gauge spans 23.1–71.0% (narrow/medium/wide gauges observed within the same trackway). Our tests for asymmetry quantified that left-to-right paces and steps are longer (p = 0.001 and 0.008, respectively), central trackway width is greater (p = 0.043), and pace angulation is lower (p = 0.040) than right-to-left. Behaviourally, these signals are consistent with right-side load-avoidance but remain speculative (alternative explanations may include habitual laterality, local substrate heterogeneity). The study demonstrates how UAV-enabled, fully digital, sequential analyses can recover intra-trackway variability and enhance behavioural understanding of extinct trackmakers from fossil trackways.
Anthony Romilio, Paul C. Murphey, Neffra A. Matthews, Bruce A. Schumacher, Lance D. Murphey, Marcello Toscanini, Parker Boyce and Zach Fitzner (2025)
Track by Track: Revealing Sauropod Turning and Lateralised Gait at the West Gold Hill Dinosaur Tracksite (Upper Jurassic, Bluff Sandstone, Colorado)
Geomatics 5(4): 67
doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/geomatics5040067
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7418/5/4/67
Drone photogrammetry and per-step spatial analysis were used to re-evaluate the West Gold Hill Dinosaur Tracksite (Bluff Sandstone, Colorado), which preserves an exceptionally long sauropod pes trackway. Building on earlier segment-based descriptions, we reconstructed the entire succession at millimetre-level resolution and quantified turning and gait asymmetry within an integrated digital workflow (UAV photogrammetry, Blender-based landmarking, scripted analysis). Of 134 footprints previously reported, 131 were confidently identified along a mapped path of 95.489 m that records 340° cumulative anticlockwise reorientation. Traditional end-point tortuosity (direct distance/trackway length; DL/TL) yields a moderate ratio of 0.462, whereas our incremental analysis isolates a fully looped subsection (tracks 38–83) with tortuosity of 0.0001 (DL 0.005 m; TL 34.825 m), revealing extreme local curvature that global (end-to-end) measures dilute. Gauge varies substantially along the trackway: the traditional metric (single pes width) averages 32.2% (wide gauge) with numerous medium-gauge representatives, while footprint-specific (‘incremental’) gauge spans 23.1–71.0% (narrow/medium/wide gauges observed within the same trackway). Our tests for asymmetry quantified that left-to-right paces and steps are longer (p = 0.001 and 0.008, respectively), central trackway width is greater (p = 0.043), and pace angulation is lower (p = 0.040) than right-to-left. Behaviourally, these signals are consistent with right-side load-avoidance but remain speculative (alternative explanations may include habitual laterality, local substrate heterogeneity). The study demonstrates how UAV-enabled, fully digital, sequential analyses can recover intra-trackway variability and enhance behavioural understanding of extinct trackmakers from fossil trackways.
Gregory Paul
Nov 24, 2025, 3:15:42 PM (4 days ago) Nov 24
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https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10166141457172784&set=pcb.10166141458802784 (thanks to Ken Carpenter).
Looks like at least one of the mounts is a cast of the fossil. Both skulls have the very narrow interfenestral pillar in the anterior antorbital fossa that indicate it is a T. regina.
Does this mean that Stan is now available for peer-reviewed publication? Me wonders what the specimen # is.
GSPaul
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