Taphonomy and paleoecology inferences of vertebrate ichnofossils from Guará Formation (Upper Jurassic), southern Brazil

In southern Brazil, the eolian facies of the Guará Formation (Late Jurassic) reveal footprints and trackways of vertebrates (dinosaurs), as well as burrows made by small vertebrates. All the footprints and trackways are preserved in dunes and sand sheets. The footprints made in the sand sheets are not well preserved due to intense trampling and can be distinguished only by the deformation of the sandstone laminations. In some cases it is possible to see this deformation in plan and in section. Tracks of theropods, ornithopods and middle-sized sauropods are present. Two footprints preserved in the foreset of a paleodune permitted recognition of slide structures and identification of the trackmaker, a theropod. Burrows horizontally across the foresets were found at this same paleodune. Ribbons of massive sandstone – interpreted as the partial filling of the base of the burrows – covered by little blocks of stratified sandstone – suggest the collapse of the burrow roof inward. There are no body fossils in the Guará Formation, consequently the preservation of these tracks provides unique evidence of widespread dinosaurs activity in southern Brazil near the end of the Jurassic.