Ignacio Díaz Martínez

University of Cantabria | UNICAN · Department of Earth Sciences and Condensed Matter Physics

Trabajos recientes han descrito una superficie con abundantes icnitas al noroeste de la playa de Matalascañas (Almonte, Huelva). En esta superficie se descubrieron decenas de huellas humanas y cientos de huellas de otros vertebrados. El afloramiento donde se encuentra la citada superficie tiene una edad Pleistoceno y se ubica en la zona intermareal...

Despite the utilization of new technologies to objectively record and document dinosaur tracks in the field, the categorization and identification of dinosaur tracks remains a largely subjective process. Track Recognition via Artificial Cognition (TRAC) is a project that seeks to provide an objective method for categorizing and identifying dinosaur...

Filtered Geomorphic Reference Models (FGRMs), extracted from High-Pass Filters based on the Fast Fourier Transform (HPF-FFT), provide a semi-automated and objective detection of a wide range of geoforms and geomorphic situations (flat areas, slopes, depressions, or valley bottoms). The method is sensitive enough to reveal numerous inflection points...

A new member of Spinosauridae from the Enciso Group (uppermost Barremian–lower Aptian) from Igea (La Rioja, Spain) is here erected on the basis of axial, pelvic girdle, and hindlimb elements that exhibit a unique combination of characters. Riojavenatrix lacustris gen. et sp. nov. is one of the latest Iberian and European spinosaurid taxa. It retain...

Footprints represent a relevant vestige providing direct information on the biology, locomotion, and behaviour of the individuals who left them. However, the spatiotemporal distribution of hominin footprints is heterogeneous, particularly in North Africa, where no footprint sites were known before the Holocene. This region is important in the evolu...

Dinosaur tracks are considerably common in the fossil record and were described from many areas in the world. They provide a live picture of dinosaur behaviour and offer valuable data about different aspects of the trackmaker paleobiology. The dinosaur ichnological record allows gain information about autopod anatomy, functional adaptations, stance...

En el siglo XIX, Charles Darwin legó, entre sus extensos escritos, la Teoría de la Evolución Biológica mediante la Selección Natural. En años recientes, se han enfatizado sus contribuciones en diversos campos científicos (biología, geología y paleontología). Sin embargo, aún persisten aspectos poco explorados de su vida como investigador. En este c...

Footprints represent a relevant vestige providing direct information on the biology, locomotion, and behaviour of the individuals who left them. However, the spatiotemporal distribution of hominin footprints is heterogeneous, particularly in North Africa, where no footprint sites were known before the Holocene. This region is important in the evolu...

In the last decades, the study of hominin footprints has grown exponentially with the discoveries of many important sites. The discoveries and analyses of these footprints provides complementary information to the more common skeletal remains or archaeological artifacts. Indeed, by representing snapshots of life, footprints give direct access not o...

New theropod tracks found in the Papo Seco Formation (lower Barremian, Lusitanian Basin) are presented. In 2022, thirteen theropod tracks were identified on the lowermost bed of this formation, preserved as natural cast infillings on the bedding surface. The tracks are attributed to the ichnogenus cf. Megalosauripus isp. It is suggested that they w...

New theropod tracks found in the Papo Seco Formation (lower Barremian, Lusitanian Basin) are presented. In 2022, thirteen theropod tracks were identified on the lowermost bed of this formation, preserved as natural cast infillings on the bedding surface. The tracks are attributed to the ichnogenus cf. Megalosauripus isp. It is suggested that they w...

Resumen: PRIMER REGISTRO DEL NIDO DE ABEJA FÓSIL ELIPSOIDEICHNUS ME-YERI DE ARGENTINA (COLÓN, PROVINCIA DE ENTRE RÍOS). Se presenta el primer registro de la traza fósil Elipsoideichnus meyeri Roselli, 1987, de afloramientos de la cantera Prefectura Naval Argentina, Parque Nacional El Palmar, Colón (provincia de Entre Ríos), Argentina. E. meyeri con...

The La Buitrera Paleontological Area, in the north of the Río Negro Province, Argentina, preserves the uppermost section of the Cenomanian Candeleros Formation, as well as a rich vertebrate fauna that inhabited the Kokorkom Desert paleo-erg. Candia Halupczok et al. (2017) reported tracks found on wet and dry interdune. New evidence from 2020 to 202...

The area surrounding Villa El Chocón (Neuquén province, Argentina) constitutes a huge ichnosite where dinosaur footprints were reported from playa-lake facies of the Cenomanian Candeleros Formation. This unit stands out for its rich and diverse tetrapod body- and ichno-fossil record, the latter including footprints attributed to sauropods, theropod...

The reconstruction of behavioural patterns performed by non-avian dinosaurs is an important task of palaeontology in order to globally understand how these animals interacted with their environment. Their relation with aquatic lifestyles has always been an intriguing question that has been extensively studied during the last decades, especially foc...

The ichnology between the marine and non-marine environments is a key field of work concerning the understanding of the variation of environmental parameters from inland to the offshore transition. In order to understand the geological and palaeobiological processes, this special issue attempts to discuss records in shallow marine to transitional e...

The Yacoraite Formation (NW Argentina) displays important microbialitic deposits of varied features throughout its six sub-basins. With the discovery of important microbialitic hydrocarbon reservoirs and the interest in lacustrine systems due to recent hydrocarbon finds in the presalt Cretaceous series of the South Atlantic, the importance of these...

This article can be found on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/a-qui-appartiennent-ces-empreintes-de-pieds-vieilles-de-300-000-ans-195953

Nuevas huellas de tetrápodos han sido descubiertas cerca de Pozo Salado, en la costa atlántica al oeste del área de Punta Mejillón (provincia de Río Negro, Argentina). Las huellas están conservadas sobre la superficie de una arenisca de grano fino incluida en una sección estratigráfica perteneciente a la Formación Río Negro, de edad neógena. Las hu...

This article can be found on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/recently-found-neanderthal-footprints-in-the-south-of-spain-could-be-275-000-years-old-195346

La Formación Allen (Campaniano medio-Maastrichtiano inferior; Cretácico Superior), con diversos afloramientos en el sector centro-oeste de Argentina, registra una interesante abundancia de restos fósiles de vertebrados. En particular, existen excelentes afloramientos en el Área Natural Protegida “Paso Córdoba”, 15 Km al suroeste de General Roca (Rí...

The Campanian Anacleto Formation holds an abundant and diverse ichnofossil and body-fossil vertebrate record. Despite the striking diversity of this record, pterosaur fossils had never been described from the unit. Here, we report four pterosaur manus tracks from fluvial red beds cropping out in the Área Natural Protegida Municipal Paso Córdoba (Rí...

This article can be found on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/y-si-los-que-pasearon-por-donana-no-fueron-los-neandertales-193545

Hominin footprints were recently discovered at Matalascañas (Huelva; South of Iberian Peninsula). They were dated thanks to a previous study in deposits of the Asperillo cliff to 106 ± 19 ka, Upper Pleistocene, making Neandertals the most likely track-makers. In this paper, we report new Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating that places the homi...

The dating of sites occupied by hominins is a key element in order to understand their evolution. It provides information on the spatio-temporal distribution of taxa, which is essential to infer their appearance, migration and disappearance. The knowledge of the chronological context is particularly important when studying hominin footprints since...

The ichnology of shallow-marine to transitional environments is a key field of study with respect to understanding the variability of environmental parameters from inshore marginal-marine settings to the offshore transition zone. Over the last decades ichnology has evolved from being a tool to determine bathymetry, becoming the standard palaeoenvir...

Albian dinosaur tracks from the Monte Grande Formation (Basque-Cantabrian Basin) are described. Sedimentary succession shows seven different facies associations (FA) with four track-bearing levels (levels 1-4) of a braid delta system. The FA4, a proximal crevasse subdelta, preserves in levels 2 and 3 theropod, possibly sauropod and undetermined din...

Two new ornithopod natural casts are reported from the Praia do Areia do Mastro site, at Espichel Cape (near Sesimbra), western central mainland Portugal (western Iberia). In this Tracksite two geological formations occur: Areia do Mastro Formation and Papo-Seco Formation (lower Barremian). This locality (Praia do Areia do Mastro) occurs in a sedim...

Les empreintes de pieds sont un vestige paléoanthropologique unique représentant de brefs moments de vie. Elles fournissent de nombreuses informations comme la taille et la composition des groupes qui les ont laissés mais sont rares dans le registre fossile par rapport au matériel ostéologique et archéologique. Cette rareté est notamment importante...

Theropod behaviour and biodynamics are intriguing questions that paleontology has been trying to resolve for a long time. The lack of extant groups with similar bipedalism has made it hard to answer some of the questions on the matter, yet theoretical biomechanical models have shed some light on the question of how fast theropods could run and what...

At least 700 crocodylomorph trace fossils were discovered in 2021 at Ribeira do Chapim tracksite (Cabo Espichel, Sesimbra, SW Portugal) in one limestone bed on top of the Areia do Mastro Formation (lower Barremian), deposited in a carbonate shallow lagoon environment, under a tropical climate. The footprints have several sizes. The arrangement of s...

This new tracksite, at Ribeira do Chapim, is located about 1 km north of Cabo Espichel and it is a stream with seasonal water (during winter) that flows into Boca do Chapim site. The footprints are in an area enlarged by the erosion of the stream. The tracksite is composed by two different areas (bounded in red) both with footprints and swimming tr...

Hominin footprints represent a unique vestige giving access to brief moments of life, an unusual time scale in archaeology or palaeoanthropology. They provide information not only on the locomotor behaviour of individuals (locomotor anatomy including soft tissue, motion capture) but also on the size and composition of the groups that made them, par...

Sauropod remains are abundant on the Iberian Peninsula across the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition. Where the osteological record shows a high diversity of this kind of dinosaur, the ichnological findings are mainly limited to sauropod tracks characterized by kidney-shaped manus (with or without pollex impressions) and pes impressions with three claw...

Theropod behaviour and biodynamics are intriguing questions that paleontology has been trying to resolve for a long time. The lack of extant groups with similar bipedalism has made it hard to answer some of the questions on the matter, yet theoretical biomechanical models have shed some light on the question of how fast theropods could run and what...

The discovery of theropod shed teeth associated with sauropod remains is relatively common in Cretaceous deposits of Patagonia. However, only a handful of studies have thoroughly explored the phylogenetic affinities of the theropod dental material. Here, we describe and identify twelve theropod shed teeth associated with a partially complete skelet...

The Los Menucos Complex (North Patagonian Massif, Río Negro province, Argentina) has been long regarded as Late Triassic in age. A Dicynodontipus-dominated record is historically known from this complex and particularly from the Puesto Tscherig locality. Here we report the Puesto Vera site, where a new track-bearing horizon was discovered within a...

Stromatolites are biogenic sedimentary structures formed by the interplay of biological (microbial composition) and environmental factors (local hydrodynamic conditions, clastic input and/or water chemistry). Well-preserved, three-dimensional (3D) fossil stromatolites are key to assessing the environmental factors controlling their growth and resul...

The Yacoraite Formation is a worldwide known unit due to the diversity and abundance of vertebrate ichnological record. The complex tectono-sedimentary evolution related to the Andean Cycle generated high dip angles of bedding and, consequently, large tracksites are not easily accessible, making hard the ichnological analysis. Here, we describe a n...

This article can be found on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/un-paseo-por-la-playa-de-donana-asi-encontramos-las-primeras-huellas-de-neandertales-en-la-peninsula-iberica-157338

Here, we report the recent discovery of 87 Neandertal footprints on the Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Doñana shoreline, Spain) located on an upper Pleistocene aeolian littoral setting (about 106 ± 19 kyr). Morphometric comparisons, high resolution digital photogrammetric 3D models and detailed sedimentary analysis have been provided to charac...

The paleopathological record provides relevant information about paleobiology and paleoecology of fossil organisms. Based on the information obtained from paleopathologies, it is possible to infer how these injuries affected inter- and intraspecific relationships among organisms, and their interaction with the environment. For instance, fractures a...

Several dinosaur tridactyl tracks showing inter- and intra-trackways morphological variations from the Cenomanian Candeleros Formation of the Neuquén Basin, Argentina, have been documented. Footprints occur on three different stratigraphic levels and are impressed on medium-grained sandstone of fluvial origin. Level 1 includes deep tridactyl tracks...

Humankind began with extra-planetary expeditions in the 1960s. To date, more than fifty manned and unmanned lunar missions have taken place. Maybe, the most iconic image of these campaigns is the bootprint left and photographed by the astronaut Edwin Aldrin. Nevertheless, there is also other evidence of human activities on the Moon, such as rover t...

A track-bearing slab (MNHN. F. AC10007) from the Stolling Formation of Hessberg (Hildburghausen, Thuringia, central Germany) is housed in the Muséum national d'Histoire naturalle of Paris, France, Since 1835.

Although the Neuquén Basin (Argentina) has an extensive record of fossil vertebrates for the Upper Cretaceous, little is known about the Early Cretaceous vertebrate faunas. The Mulichinco Formation (early Valanginian), where some dinosaur bone sites were found, provides important additional insights into the composition of continental fauna of that...

Septiembre 2020 402 Volumen 77 (3): DESARROLLOS RECIENTES EN ICNOLOGÍA ARGENTINA Vertebrate tracks of the Río Negro province, Patagonia, Argentina: stratigraphy, palaeobiology and environmental contexts ABSTRACT To date, the tetrapod ichnological record in the Río Negro province, Argentina, is known from six areas from the Permo-Triassic to Neogene...

The study of palaeopathology provides valuable information about injury and behaviour in extinct organisms. Appendicular pathologies are interesting as they directly affect mobility and therefore the ability of an animal to survive. Here, the injuries recorded in the left pes of the neornithischian Othnielosaurus consors are described. The implicat...

Tetrapod limbs morphology is a reliable proxy of locomotor capacities. Beyond this, other aspects of life habits, such as predation abilities, can also be relevant to determine main morphofunctional appendicular properties, which ultimately reflect a compromise between different factors of the biological role. Dromaeosauridae is a dinosaur clade be...

We present a new locality with at least 880 vertebrate tracks found at the top of a limestone bed from the lower Miocene Tudela Formation (Spain). The trampled surface was formed by artiodactyls that crossed a muddy carbonate accumulated under the influence of water level variations in a palustrine environment. The tracks reflect different types of...

Gregarious behaviour among dinosaurs has been inferred from several lines of evidence (monospecific bonebeds, skeletal morphology, phylogenetic inferences, comparison with modern ecosystems and parallel trackways with particular characteristics), but is relatively poorly documented for non-avian theropods. Here, we report five parallel theropod tra...

El Museo Estación Cultural en la localidad de Fernández Oro (Río Negro, Argentina) es el escenario de un proyecto de investigación y creación artística cuyo objetivo es diseñar un espacio de ciencias que plantee nuevos significados a las colecciones geológicas, paleontológicas y arqueológicas que forman parte de su patrimonio. La piedra angular del...

En el Área Municipal Natural Protegida Paso Córdoba, provincia de Río Negro, Argentina, las facies fluvio-lacustres de la Formación Anacleto (Campaniano inferior), pasan transicionalmente a facies eólicas de la Formación Allen (Campaniano superior–Maastrichtiano inferior). En el sector superior de esta última, hay desarrollo de depósitos de dunas d...

Se presentan los primeros resultados del estudio paleoecológico y tafonómico de un conjunto de restos de macro y microfósiles acuáticos continentales del Cretácico Superior del área Natural Municipal Protegida Paso Córdoba (General Roca, Río Negro). Las muestras provienen de estratos situados en la transición entre las fangolitas fluvio-lacustres d...

La Formación Bajo de la Carpa (Grupo Neuquén) aflora ampliamente en el borde de la margen sur del río Negro, en el Área Municipal Natural Protegida Paso Córdoba, provincia de Río Negro, Argentina. En dichos afloramientos son abundantes los restos óseos fósiles de serpientes, cocodrilos y dinosaurios terópodos no avianos. En la presente unidad, pred...

Objetivo del Módulo 1: Introducir al participante del curso EDX DINOSAURIOS DE LA PATAGONIA a la historia de los descubrimientos de fósiles de dinosaurios en Argentina haciendo hincapié en los lugares donde se realizaron y las personas que lo hicieron posible.

Gregarious behaviour is an important aspect of dinosaur paleoecology and has been inferred from several evidences: monospecific bonebeds, skeletal morphology, phylogenetic inferences, comparison with modern ecosystems and parallel trackways. Nevertheless, it is relatively poorly documented and understood among non-avian theropods. In the Cenomanian...