Discovery of dinosaur ichnoassemblage from the Middle Jurassic at Ganquan County, Shaanxi Province

Dinosaur tracks have become the crucial way to reconstruct the Jurassic dinosaurian fauna in the Ordos Basin, since few dinosaur fossil skeletons have been ever reported from the Jurassic in the basin. On the basis of field geological survey and indoor research, the newly discovered dinosaur ichnoassemblage from the Middle Jurassic Zhiluo Formation at Ganquan County of Shaanxi Province is briefly described herein. Preliminary research indicates that Ganquan dinosaur ichnoassemblage reveals a relatively diverse ichnofauna consisting of theropod, sauropod, possible ornithopod and turtle. Theropod footprints are highly diverse, and include large, medium and small tridactyl footprints and large tetradactyl footprints. Sauropod footprints can be attributed to Brontopodus isp.. A single possible ornithopod footprint is poorly preserved and cannot be classified. Possible turtle footprints represent the first record from the Jurassic in the Ordos Basin. The discovery of Ganquan dinosaur ichnoassemblage expands the geographic distribution of dinosaur tracks in China, and has great significance for the reconstruction of the Jurassic dinosaurian fauna, palaeogeography, palaeoecology, and palaeoenvironment in the Ordos Basin. Further research on Ganquan dinosaur ichnoassemblage will be carried out.