History and bibliography of the study of fossil vertebrate footprints in the British isles: supplement 1973–1983

Abstract

This paper supplements the history and bibliography of British fossil vertebrate footprints published by Sarjeant in 1974. It discusses additional published accounts of these trace fossils issued during the period prior to 1973 and provides a resume of new discoveries and descriptions made during the decade 1973–1983. Important among the former are a record of a hitherto unnoticed Scottish Carboniferous find, reports of footprints found by the Rev. W. Lister and H. C. Beasley in the Triassic rocks of Statffordshire, a possible record of dinosaur footprints from the lowest Cretaceous of Wiltshire, a more definite instance from the Lower Cretaceous of Surrey, and a rather dubious one from Ulster. New discoveries include a first report of dinosaur footprints from Buckinghamshire and accounts of major footprint finds in the Triassic sediments of south Wales, the Purbeck formation of Dorset and the Wealden beds of East Sussex and the Isle of Wight; also the first record of dinosaur footprints from the Scottish Jurassic. New information concerning vertebrate footprints from the Triassic of Shropshire and new conclusions on the taxonomy of the Triassic footprints from south Wales are presented.