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A multidisciplinary approach to digital mapping of dinosaurian tracksites in the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia

The abundant dinosaurian tracksites of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia, form an important part of the West Kimberley National Heritage Place. Previous attempts to document these tracksites using traditional mapping techniques...

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Autores principales: Romilio, Anthony, Hacker, Jorg M., Zlot, Robert, Poropat, George, Bosse, Michael, Salisbury, Steven W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5363262/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28344899
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3013
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author Romilio, Anthony
Hacker, Jorg M.
Zlot, Robert
Poropat, George
Bosse, Michael
Salisbury, Steven W.
author_facet Romilio, Anthony
Hacker, Jorg M.
Zlot, Robert
Poropat, George
Bosse, Michael
Salisbury, Steven W.
author_sort Romilio, Anthony
collection PubMed
description The abundant dinosaurian tracksites of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia, form an important part of the West Kimberley National Heritage Place. Previous attempts to document these tracksites using traditional mapping techniques (e.g., surface overlays, transects and gridlines combined with conventional photography) have been hindered by the non-trivial challenges associated with working in this area, including, but not limited to: (1) the remoteness of many of the tracksites; (2) the occurrence of the majority of the tracksites in the intertidal zone; (3) the size and complexity of many of the tracksites, with some extending over several square kilometres. Using the historically significant and well-known dinosaurian tracksites at Minyirr (Gantheaume Point), we show how these issues can be overcome through the use of an integrated array of remote sensing tools. A combination of high-resolution aerial photography with both manned and unmanned aircraft, airborne and handheld high-resolution lidar imaging and handheld photography enabled the collection of large amounts of digital data from which 3D models of the tracksites at varying resolutions were constructed. The acquired data encompasses a very broad scale, from the sub-millimetre level that details individual tracks, to the multiple-kilometre level, which encompasses discontinuous tracksite exposures and large swathes of coastline. The former are useful for detailed ichnological work, while the latter are being employed to better understand the stratigraphic and temporal relationship between tracksites in a broader geological and palaeoecological context. These approaches and the data they can generate now provide a means through which digital conservation and temporal monitoring of the Dampier Peninsula’s dinosaurian tracksites can occur. As plans for the on-going management of the tracks in this area progress, analysis of the 3D data and 3D visualization will also likely provide an important means through which the broader public can experience these spectacular National Heritage listed landscapes.
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spelling pubmed-53632622017-03-24 A multidisciplinary approach to digital mapping of dinosaurian tracksites in the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia Romilio, Anthony Hacker, Jorg M. Zlot, Robert Poropat, George Bosse, Michael Salisbury, Steven W. PeerJ Paleontology The abundant dinosaurian tracksites of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia, form an important part of the West Kimberley National Heritage Place. Previous attempts to document these tracksites using traditional mapping techniques (e.g., surface overlays, transects and gridlines combined with conventional photography) have been hindered by the non-trivial challenges associated with working in this area, including, but not limited to: (1) the remoteness of many of the tracksites; (2) the occurrence of the majority of the tracksites in the intertidal zone; (3) the size and complexity of many of the tracksites, with some extending over several square kilometres. Using the historically significant and well-known dinosaurian tracksites at Minyirr (Gantheaume Point), we show how these issues can be overcome through the use of an integrated array of remote sensing tools. A combination of high-resolution aerial photography with both manned and unmanned aircraft, airborne and handheld high-resolution lidar imaging and handheld photography enabled the collection of large amounts of digital data from which 3D models of the tracksites at varying resolutions were constructed. The acquired data encompasses a very broad scale, from the sub-millimetre level that details individual tracks, to the multiple-kilometre level, which encompasses discontinuous tracksite exposures and large swathes of coastline. The former are useful for detailed ichnological work, while the latter are being employed to better understand the stratigraphic and temporal relationship between tracksites in a broader geological and palaeoecological context. These approaches and the data they can generate now provide a means through which digital conservation and temporal monitoring of the Dampier Peninsula’s dinosaurian tracksites can occur. As plans for the on-going management of the tracks in this area progress, analysis of the 3D data and 3D visualization will also likely provide an important means through which the broader public can experience these spectacular National Heritage listed landscapes. PeerJ Inc. 2017-03-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5363262/ /pubmed/28344899 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3013 Text en ©2017 Romilio et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Paleontology
Romilio, Anthony
Hacker, Jorg M.
Zlot, Robert
Poropat, George
Bosse, Michael
Salisbury, Steven W.
A multidisciplinary approach to digital mapping of dinosaurian tracksites in the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia
title A multidisciplinary approach to digital mapping of dinosaurian tracksites in the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia
title_full A multidisciplinary approach to digital mapping of dinosaurian tracksites in the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia
title_fullStr A multidisciplinary approach to digital mapping of dinosaurian tracksites in the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia
title_full_unstemmed A multidisciplinary approach to digital mapping of dinosaurian tracksites in the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia
title_short A multidisciplinary approach to digital mapping of dinosaurian tracksites in the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia
title_sort multidisciplinary approach to digital mapping of dinosaurian tracksites in the lower cretaceous (valanginian–barremian) broome sandstone of the dampier peninsula, western australia
topic Paleontology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5363262/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28344899
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3013
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