Tetrapod tracks from the Middle Triassic of NW Sardinia (Nurra region, Italy)

Abstract

Paolo Citton (1), ausonio RonChi (2), umbeRto niCosia (3), eva saCChi (3,4), simone maganuCo (5,6), angelo CiPRiani (3), giulia innamoRati (3), Costantino ZuCCaRi (7), Fabio manuCCi ( 6) & maRCo Romano (3)

Archosauriform footprints in the Lower Triassic of Western Alps and their role in understanding the effects of the Permian-Triassic hyperthermal

“…The Gardetta outcrop enlarges also the knowledge on biogeography of archosauriforms in the Lower Triassic of Europe, so far based on archosaur ichnosites discovered in Italy (Val Marenca, Santi et al, 2015 ; Sardinia, Citton et al, 2020 ), Spain (Moncayo and Tagamanent, Díaz-Martínez & Pérez-García, 2012 ), Switzerland (Cascade d’Emaney and Vieux Emosson; Cavin et al, 2012 ), Austria (Drau Range; Krainer, Lucas & Ronchi, 2012 ), Germany (Bundsandstein; Klein & Haubold, 2007 ) and Poland (Wióry, Holy Cross Mountains, Klein & Niedźwiedzki, 2012 ).…”

“…Archosaur tracks and trackways are in fact well-known from Lower to Middle Triassic siliciclastic and carbonate sediments of the Upper Buntsandstein and Lower Muschelkalk (late Olenekian-early Anisian) of Germany ( Haubold, 1971a ; Haubold, 1971b ; Klein & Haubold, 2007 ), the Lower Triassic of the Holy Cross Mountains in Poland ( Klein & Niedźwiedzki, 2012 ), the Middle Triassic of Bourgogne ( Gand, 1979 ), Massif Central ( Demathieu, 1970 ) and Ardèche in France ( Courel & Demathieu, 1976 ), the Iberian Range in Spain ( Fortuny et al, 2011 ; Dìaz-Martinez et al, 2015 ) and Sardinia in Italy ( Citton et al, 2020 ). Further sites, often with identical ichnotaxa and ichnoassemblages, are known from the Lower to Middle Triassic of Great Britain ( King et al, 2005 ), North American southwest ( Klein & Lucas, 2010a ; Klein & Lucas, 2010b ), Argentina ( Melchor & De Valais, 2006 ), Africa ( Klein et al, 2011 ) and southern China ( Xing et al, 2013 ).…”

“…The Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) was the most severe biotic crisis of all times (Erwin, 1993), eliminating >90% of marine and terrestrial species (Erwin, 1993; in Spain (Fortuny et al, 2011;Dìaz-Martinez et al, 2015) and Sardinia in Italy (Citton et al, 2020). Further sites, often with identical ichnotaxa and ichnoassemblages, are known from the Lower to Middle Triassic of Great Britain (King et al, 2005), North American southwest (Klein & Lucas, 2010a;Klein & Lucas, 2010b), Argentina (Melchor & De Valais, 2006), Africa (Klein et al, 2011) and southern China (Xing et al, 2013).…”

The Anisian continental-marine transition in Sardinia (Italy): state of the art, new palynological data and regional chronostratigraphic correlation

“…The Arenarie di Cala Viola Formation marks a dramatic change in sedimentary and climatic conditions. In fact, while the Conglomerato di Porticciolo was probably deposited during the late Early Triassic (late Olenekian) sedimentary cycle, under arid to hyper-arid conditions (Durand, 2006(Durand, , 2008Bourquin et al, 2007Bourquin et al, , 2011Borruel-Abadía et al, 2019), similarly to the Poudingue de Port-issol in Provence, the Arenarie di Cala Viola Formation with its finer grained facies, was deposited in a terminal fan setting under semi-arid conditions (Cassinis et al, 2003;Citton et al, 2020;Durand, 2006Durand, , 2008, as testified by the presence of pedogenetic carbonate concretions, mud cracks, tree-related bio-sedimentary structures and the presence of inundite sequences (Fig. 4F) (sensu Seilacher, 1982).…”

Figure 6: Colour-coded, contour line and interpretative drawing of the GT-7 trackway.

“…Archosaur tracks and trackways are in fact well-known from Lower to Middle Triassic siliciclastic and carbonate sediments of the Upper Buntsandstein and Lower Muschelkalk (late Olenekian-early Anisian) of Germany (Haubold, 1971a;Haubold, 1971b;Klein & Haubold, 2007), the Lower Triassic of the Holy Cross Mountains in Poland (Klein & Niedźwiedzki, 2012), the Middle Triassic of Bourgogne (Gand, 1979), Massif Central (Demathieu, 1970) and Ardèche in France (Courel & Demathieu, 1976), the Iberian Range in Spain (Fortuny et al, 2011;Dìaz-Martinez et al, 2015) and Sardinia in Italy (Citton et al, 2020). Further sites, often with identical ichnotaxa and ichnoassemblages, are known from the Lower to Middle Triassic of Great Britain (King et al, 2005), North American southwest (Klein & Lucas, 2010a;Klein & Lucas, 2010b), Argentina (Melchor & De Valais, 2006), Africa (Klein et al, 2011) and southern China (Xing et al, 2013).…”