Tracking Dinosaurs During the Equatorial and South Atlantic Opening

The Mesozoic rift basinsRift basins of northeastern BrazilBrazil, particularly those at the edge of the Atlantic marginAtlantic margin, are small, elongated, narrow basins, usually grabenGraben or half-grabenHalf-graben, controlled by normalNormal fault or transcurrent faultsTranscurrent fault. Dinosaur tracks have been founded in some of these basins, mainly during the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian-Albian). The tracks belongs to different types of dinosaurs, including sauropodsSauropods (most likely titanosauridsTitanosaurids and diplodocoids), theropodsTheropods (likely AbelisauroideaAbelisauroidea and spinosaurids), ornithopodsOrnithopods, both small and graviportals (iguanodontidsIguanodontids), and birds. Besides footprints on the bedding plane surface, some others are cross-section footprintsCross-section footprints. A total of about 32 dinosaur individuals have been found in these seventeen basins so far and their presence has often helped a better understanding of palaeoenvironments, palaeoclimate, and paleobiogeographic aspects of the dinosaur biotaBiota.