Dinosaur Footprints Throughout Mesozoic Basins in Brazil

The vertebrate ichnological data from the Brazilian Mesozoic basinsMesozoic basins represented by the fossil tracks are well-known, in fluvialFluvial, lakesLake and coastal deposits. They are generally recognized by their superficial morphological features, including digits, pedal pads, contour, claws, or as a sequence of deformations in a same bedding plane. There are also some footprints, especially the ones observed in natural cliffs, outcrops in roads and open mines that are recognized through cross sectionsCross sections. They are sometimes interpreted as load castsLoad casts, convolute or fluidization structuresFluidization structures related to the physical processes distinct from the ones produced by the dinosaur tramplingDinosaur trampling. The footprints in this context are 3D structures3D structures, not restricted to the superficial bedding plane, but they deform many underlying beds. The Brazilian sedimentary basins where dinosaur footprints are found include intracratonic and rift basinsRift basins. The main intracratonic basins with footprints are the Paraná, Sanfranciscana and Parnaíba basins, whose geological history spans from Paleozoic to Cenozoic in a syneclise tectonic context. During the Mesozoic, the South Atlantic opening created new basins in the present Atlantic marginAtlantic margin and in the interior Proterozoic belts. The structural lineaments of the Brazilian and Pan-African provinces were intensely reactivated, with expressive vertical movements. In the interior of the Borborema ProvinceBorborema province and along the current Brazilian continental margin there were crustal ruptures and the origin of new sedimentary basins such as the Rio do Peixe, Recôncavo, Sergipe-Alagoas, Potiguar, São Luís and Tacutu basinsTacutu basin. The dinosaur footprints are found in outcrops that indicate deposition in a wide variety of geological settings, including fluvialFluvial, lacustrineLacustrine and seashore environments.