Abstract
The northern German Lower Cretaceous Buckeberg Formation yields numerous dinosaur tracksites, some of which have produced material of impressive quality. Stratigraphically, the localities are concentrated in the Obernkirchen Sandstone, a thin subunit within this formation. The Obernkirchen Sandstone represents mainly a sandy barrier to back-barrier and lagoonal setting within a limnic deltaic facies complex, which was deposited during the late Berriasian (Cypridea alta formosa ostracod subzone) in the southeast of the Lower Saxony Basin, northwest Germany. A few tracksites occur more proximally in coeval fluvial deposits. Dinosaur footprint assemblages were left by ornithopods, theropods, sauropods, ankylosaurs, and small, bipedal ornithischians. Other vertebrate tracks are those of turtles and, possibly, crocodilians. Due to the decrease in sandstone quarrying in recent decades, many old tracksites are inaccessible today. Additionally, historical descriptions of the tracks were of highly variable quality and often published in remote and today nearly unobtainable sources. Here we provide a catalogue of 13 tracksites compiled from the literature and some new observations. Of these 13 tracksites, only five are still accessible and currently under study. Descriptions of each locality are provided, with a comprehensive compilation of existing data on lithofacies, stratigraphy, palaeogeography and palaeoecology of the Obernkirchen Sandstone and equivalent strata. A short review of the track-bearing lithofacies assemblage indicates that the outcrop areas have distinctly different facies and environments, and, therefore, track-bearing horizons can only be correlated stratigraphically between adjacent outcrops. For this reason, the identification of a megatracksite in the Obernkirchen Sandstone is currently regarded as premature and uncertain.
Highlights
The Obernkirchen Sandstone represents mainly a sandy barrier to back-barrier and lagoonal setting within a limnic deltaic facies complex, which was deposited during the late Berriasian (Cypridea alta formosa ostracod subzone) in the southeast of the Lower Saxony Basin, northwest Germany
The Berriasian Buckeberg Formation is well-known for its wealth of dinosaur tracks (Ballerstedt 1905; Dietrich 1927; Lehmann 1978), but their documentation is mostly confined to isolated specimens or localities
The first description of theropod tracks from the Obernkirchen Sandstone were given by Grabbe (1883: 20), who noted moderately sized tridactyl footprints with an asymmetric metatarsal region and distinct claw marks
Summary
Kurzfassung Die unterkretazische Buckeberg-Formation Nordwest-Deutschlands ist reich an Fundstellen von Dinosaurierfahrten, von denen einige hervorragend erhaltenes Material lieferten. Diese Fundstellen sind stratigraphisch auf ein geringmachtiges Intervall, den ObernkirchenSandstein, konzentriert. Aufgrund des Ruckgangs im Sandstein-Abbau im Verlauf der vergangenen Jahrzehnte sind viele der alten Fahrten-Fundstellen heute nicht mehr aufgeschlossen. Historische Beschreibungen sind von unterschiedlicher Qualitat und haufig nur in schwer erhaltlichen Quellen publiziert. Nur funf Fundstellen sind heute noch zuganglich und derzeit Gegenstand weiterer Forschungen. Samtliche Fundstellen werden vorgestellt und der Kenntnisstand uber Lithofazies, Stratigraphie, Palaogeographie und Palaookologie des Obernkirchener Sandsteins zusammengefasst. Lithofazies-Daten zeigen, dass eine feinstratigraphische Korrelation individueller Horizonte innerhalb des Sandstein-Komplexes nur zwischen sehr eng benachbarten Aufschlussen moglich ist und deutliche Faziesunterschiede zwischen den Fahrtenvorkommen bestehen. Daher erscheint die derzeitige Datengrundlage als nicht hinreichend, um den ObernkirchenSandstein in seiner Gesamtheit als Megatracksite zu charakterisieren
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