Fossil footprints from the Dakota Group (Cretaceous) John Martin Reservoir, Bent County, Colorado: New insights into the paleoecology of the Dinosaur Freeway

The John Martin Reservoir tracksites from the Dakota Group of Bent County, in southeastern Colorado form part of the mid Cretaceous Dinosaur Freeway characterized by abundant ornithopod footprints (Caririchnium). Over 350 tracks (331 Caririchnium, 1 Magnoavipes, 22 crocodiles, and a few pterosaurs) were discovered at 10 new tracksites. All tracks were found as natural casts, including Caririchnium trackways that were still in-situ, parallel and regularly spaced, suggesting gregarious behavior. Most crocodile tracks are swimming tracks that consist of three or four scratch marks also with parallel orientations in many cases. A few pterosaur tracks consist of pes footprints and scratch marks suggesting swimming or floating activity in shallow water. This is the first pterosaur evidence from the Dakota Group. The Caririchnium size structure from John Martin Reservoir is consistent with the size structure tendency of the whole Dinosaur Freeway, which shows larger track size in the north. This tendency could be interpreted as evidence for more than one ornithopod species spread out across the Dinosaur Freeway. The alternative, that there was one ornithopod species that migrated north and south seasonally is less likely. The John Martin paleoecosystem is interpreted from the track evidence as a well-vegetated coastal plain environment with many ornithopods and a few theropods on land, crocodiles in the water, and pterosaurs in the skies and on the water.