Researchers used a combination of 3D X-ray technology, animation and simulation to gain insight into 200 million year-old dinosaur footprints.
Scientists at The Royal Veterinary College and Brown University visualized the reorganization of sedimentary particles in dinosaur footprints for the first time. They imaged the sub-surface foot movements of a chicken like bird, allowing the to simulate how the footprint was formed. These recreations were then compared to the fossilized tracks of a small dinosaur. The findings could help researchers gain better understanding of the tracks because the technology allows the researchers to reconstruct features of the foot that are not displayed in the fossilized print.
"By observing how a footprint is formed, from the moment the foot hits the sediment until it leaves, we can directly associate motions with features left behind in the track. We can then study a fossil track left by a dinosaur and say 'ok, these features of the track are similar, but these are different, so what does that mean for the way the animal was walking?'" Said Peter Falkingham, a Research Fellow in the RVC's Structure and Motion Lab.
The virtual footprint was created through two X-ray videos with a digital skeletal model based off CT scans and a 3D motion analysis called X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology (XROMM). The team transferred the motion of the bird's foot into a simulation of the sediment particles created by a supercomputer. This allowed the researchers to associate movements of the foot with characteristics of the fossilized footprint.
"Footprints are not just simple molds of the bottom of the foot," said co-author Professor Stephen Gatesy from Brown University, "so it's important to understand how the dynamic interaction between a living animal and the substrate give rise to a track's 3D shape."
The findings could help researchers learn more about how dinosaurs, and even ancient people, moved across the Earth.
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