Discovery of an unique middle Jurassic dinosaur footprints association and a Paleogene elephant footprints group in East Tibet， China
YAO Huazhou1,2,3， LI Yangui1,2,3， JUNAID Khan1,2,3， ASMA Tahir1,2,3， AN Zhihui1， ZHAO He2， ZHANG Lei2， LYU Zhengyi2， WANG Xiangdong2， ZHAO Laishi2， WANG Jianxiong1， HE Yaoyan1， AN Xianying4， ZHANG Renjie1
(1.Wuhan Center for China Geological Survey， Wuhan 430205， China； 2. State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources， China University of Geosciences， Wuhan 430074，China； 3. Geological Survey Institute， China University of Geosciences， Wuhan 430074，China； 4. Chengdu Center for China Geological Survey， Chengdu 610081，China)
Abstract：In East Tibet， 373 middle Jurassic dinosaur footprints from ten locations in Karuo District， Changdu City and more than 280 Paleogene elephant footprints from four locations in the Xuejila Mountain， Jiangda County have been discovered. At the Wenda Village site of Karuo District， a 60 m2 cliff of the Middle Jurassic Dabuka Formation composed of purple sandstone and mudstone is unusual and impressive. It contains more than 183 different size well-preserved convex sauropods， ornithopods， and theropods footprints within 2.45 m-thick strata of eight beds. The ornithopod and theropod's footprints are first discovered in Tibet， and the small-type theropods Wildeichnu ichnogenus is first found in China. The Paleogene elephant footprints are discovered in a concave form in purplish-red sandstone of the Paleocene-Eocene Gongjue formation near the roadside at Xuejila mountain， west to Jiangda， east Tibet. These footprints are from four different sites. Large amouts of footprints concentrated in one unique site of high-elevation rock outcrop about 110 m2， in which 165 footprints were measured while other more than 100 footprints are hard to reach. This is the first time Paleogene elephant footprint fossils have been reported in China.
2021, Vol. 55 
