The Dinosaur Footprints in the Cretaceous Aeolian Deposits of Sanfranciscana Basin

The aeolian environments are often very restrictive to the preservation of fossil footprints. Dry sands and the low humidityHumidity substrate difficult the processes that allow the early cementation and prevent the destruction of the tracks by the wind erosion. Deflation of loose material from dry, uncemented sediments, transports away the clay and silt particles, and leaves only the sand and pebbles. These deposits, in the context of a hot and dry environment, show a narrow window of environmental conditions, which allow the footprints preservation. In the Early Cretaceous deserts of the central GondwanalandGondwanaland existed well-adapted theropodTheropods communities to highly hot and arid climatesArid climate. They are recognized, through ichnological data, as well as in the Sanfranciscana BasinSanfranciscana basin, in the Paraná BasinParaná basin (Botucatu FormationBotucatu formation). In the Sanfranciscana BasinSanfranciscana basin the dinosaur footprints occur in a context of humid interduneInterdune environment, in which isolated footprints and short theropodTheropods tracks were preserved.