Dinosaur State Park stratigraphy and environments for dinosaur tracks and trackmakers
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Ben Creisler
Oct 16, 2025, 10:23:39 PM (2 days ago) Oct 16
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Ben Creisler
A new paper:
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Nicholas G. McDonald, Peter M. LeTourneau, Phillip Huber & Paul E. Olsen (2025)
Triassic-Jurassic Lake-Shoreline Environments of the Hartford and Deerfield Basins: Fossils, Food Chains, and Facies-Linked Distribution of Dinosaur Tracks and Trackmakers
Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 66(2): 339-381
doi: https://doi.org/10.3374/014.066.0202
https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-peabody-museum-of-natural-history/volume-66/issue-2/014.066.0202/Triassic-Jurassic-Lake-Shoreline-Environments-of-the-Hartford-and-Deerfield/10.3374/014.066.0202.short
A half-century of investigations in deep-lake and littoral facies have produced a wealth of fossils, illuminating the trophic structure of the latest Triassic and Early Jurassic rift ecosystems in the Hartford and Deerfield Basins (Connecticut and Massachusetts, USA). Fossil assemblages include representatives of all fundamental levels of the food chain: bacteria, algae, plants, mollusks, crustaceans, insects, fishes, and tetrapods. The superabundance of large theropod dinosaur footprints in near-shore lake environments, as exemplified at Dinosaur State Park, Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and the rarity of herbivore tracks in the same facies suggest that the aquatic food web was critically important to apex dinosaurian carnivores. We clarify the stratigraphy and elucidate the monsoonal expansion and contraction of perennial lakes at Dinosaur State Park, highlighting the importance of microbial mats that blanketed trackway surfaces. At basin scale, we document the facies-dependent distribution of large carnivorous dinosaur tracks (Eubrontes) in lake-margin strata. In contrast, large herbivorous dinosaur tracks (Otozoum) primarily occur in fluvial facies, more proximal to upland environments. The rarity of herbivorous tetrapod footprints in lake-margin environments may indicate that herbivores lived in dry-land, upland habitats, spent most of their time foraging along streams and rivers, or intentionally avoided lake shores frequented by large carnivores. Large theropods were opportunistic apex predators in littoral habitats, with a diet of fishes and the smaller tetrapods that also frequented lake margins. Rather than tearing through coniferous forests displaying a fierce raptorial lifestyle, as typically portrayed, the large carnivores of the Triassic-Jurassic circum-Atlantic rift valleys likely spent most of their days at the beach, fishing.
Nicholas G. McDonald, Peter M. LeTourneau, Phillip Huber & Paul E. Olsen (2025)
Triassic-Jurassic Lake-Shoreline Environments of the Hartford and Deerfield Basins: Fossils, Food Chains, and Facies-Linked Distribution of Dinosaur Tracks and Trackmakers
Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 66(2): 339-381
doi: https://doi.org/10.3374/014.066.0202
https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-peabody-museum-of-natural-history/volume-66/issue-2/014.066.0202/Triassic-Jurassic-Lake-Shoreline-Environments-of-the-Hartford-and-Deerfield/10.3374/014.066.0202.short
A half-century of investigations in deep-lake and littoral facies have produced a wealth of fossils, illuminating the trophic structure of the latest Triassic and Early Jurassic rift ecosystems in the Hartford and Deerfield Basins (Connecticut and Massachusetts, USA). Fossil assemblages include representatives of all fundamental levels of the food chain: bacteria, algae, plants, mollusks, crustaceans, insects, fishes, and tetrapods. The superabundance of large theropod dinosaur footprints in near-shore lake environments, as exemplified at Dinosaur State Park, Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and the rarity of herbivore tracks in the same facies suggest that the aquatic food web was critically important to apex dinosaurian carnivores. We clarify the stratigraphy and elucidate the monsoonal expansion and contraction of perennial lakes at Dinosaur State Park, highlighting the importance of microbial mats that blanketed trackway surfaces. At basin scale, we document the facies-dependent distribution of large carnivorous dinosaur tracks (Eubrontes) in lake-margin strata. In contrast, large herbivorous dinosaur tracks (Otozoum) primarily occur in fluvial facies, more proximal to upland environments. The rarity of herbivorous tetrapod footprints in lake-margin environments may indicate that herbivores lived in dry-land, upland habitats, spent most of their time foraging along streams and rivers, or intentionally avoided lake shores frequented by large carnivores. Large theropods were opportunistic apex predators in littoral habitats, with a diet of fishes and the smaller tetrapods that also frequented lake margins. Rather than tearing through coniferous forests displaying a fierce raptorial lifestyle, as typically portrayed, the large carnivores of the Triassic-Jurassic circum-Atlantic rift valleys likely spent most of their days at the beach, fishing.
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