These projects have been and will be carried out with the generous support of Earthwatch and are part of the on-going study of the dinosaur footprints of the middle Jurassic (Ravenscar Group) of the Cleveland area of Yorkshire which is being carried out by the Sheffield Dinosaur Track Research Group, University of Sheffield. 

Yorkshire coastal area south of Whitby, showing the rugged cliff scenery typical of the Cleveland (cliffland) coast. The footprint bearing beds are in the cliff and footprints can be found in the fallen slabs in the undercliff area.

The Earthwatch Projects, which commenced in 1996, are an on-going series and two further Discovery Projects are scheduled to run as follows
Thursday, 8th September to Tuesday 13th September, 2005.
Tuesday, 13th September to Sunday 18th September, 2005.

Earthwatch team members making a transparent overlay of the track of a large bipedal ornithopod dinosaur. A portion of the track outline is also shown here. The animal left prints which were 0.4m long and took 2.5m strides. Use the on-line calculator to estimate its speed.

	Tridactyl (three toed) footprint showing claw marks at the tips of the toes. This 0.2m long theropod print was one of the prints located and described by Earthwatch volunteers during the 1996 field season.
	The large padded footprint left by the hind foot of a sauropod dinosaur. The print shows the curved claw marks typical of this type of dinosaur. The print which is on a fallen block is on the base of a sandstone unit.

Sauropod prints over 1.0m long and 0.8m wide have been recorded by volunteers.

The dossier of information resulting from the combined work of the Earthwatch volunteers and the prior information of the Sheffield Dinosaur Track Research Group is already a very valuable research and conservation tool. Analysis of the information has given some initial indications of changes in the footprint types and assemblages in different parts of the succession. Though some of these changes may represent real evolutionary changes in dinosaur type most seem to reflect responses of dinosaur communities and dinosaur behaviour to local palaeoenvironmental changes. 

The broad three toed footprint of an ornithopod dinosaur. This is a good example of one of the typical forms of the Yorkshire middle Jurassic. The print is on the base of a fallen sandstone block.

1. Tridactyl footprint on the underside of a rock overhang.
2. Deltapodus footprint. This is the youngest known occurrence of this footprint type.
3. Tridactyl theropod footprint.
4. Team members measuring and logging footprint bearing strata.
5. Team members making a latex replica of a set of small prints.
6. Channel sandstones near Scarborough.

For more information about the Earthwatch organisation and the projects that it runs you can visit their site at http://www.earthwatch.org
For further general information about dinosaur tracks good web sites are available at
http://www.envs.emory.edu/ichnology/dinotraces.html and
http://paleo.cc/paluxy/ovrdino.htm
Further details of the work of the Sheffield Dinosaur Track Research Group can be found at the following site http://www.shef.ac.uk/~es/dino.html.

For further information on post graduate research in Palaeontology please complete our on-line Postgraduate Enquiry Form or contact:-

Dr M.A. Whyte or Dr M. Romano
Department of Geography,
University of Sheffield,
Dainton Building,Brookhill,
Sheffield, S3 7HF,
U. K.
Tel:- (0114) 222 3610/11
Fax:- (0114) 222 3650
Email:- Dr M.A. Whyte

Back to top of Page