Morphometric and biomorphic variability of theropod footprint characters from Imilchil tracksites (Mid-? Late Jurassic, Central High Atlas, Morocco).

Abstract

This paper presents the study of 14 new sites with theropod footprints in Imilchil. The study focuses on ichnotaxonomic and extramorphological characteristics of the footprints, the analysis of their trackways, and the correlation with the descriptions of published tridactil footprints. The objective has been to provide a comparative view of theropod ichnites with the relationship between the substrate and the footprint (in the interval between its formation and its current state) and the ichnotaxonomic data. The distribution of footprints in true or real footprints (including stamps and deformed footprints), undertracks, subtracks, and eroded footprints is introduced, and the variation in their morphological characters due to preservation processes is analyzed. An exposition of the analysis of the measurements of footprints and trackways has also been made, comparing them with data obtained in two other large sites studied and known by the team (La Rioja and Iouaridène). The numerical data confirm the generality of some of the previous and little-known observations of the repetition of distributions related to the metric of dinosaur footprints and trackways.