June 19th 2011: Visit to Whitby - Saltwick Bay, led by Dr. Martin Whyte of Sheffield University. Members of N.E.G.S, the Natural History Society of Northumbria and O.U.G.S., in total 20, met at 10.30 am in the Whitby Abbey Car Park (NZ 905110). Since low water wasn’t until 1.30pm the party walked along the cliff top towards Saltwick Bay examining where possible the general sequence of rocks on the foreshore and in the cliffs. After walking down into Saltwick Bay, the main focus of the day was in finding and identifying footprints indicating the presence of former dinosaur communities within rocks of the Middle Jurassic, in this instance, the Saltwick Formation of the Ravenscar Group. Dr. Whyte and his associate Dr. Mike Romano have spent approximately 30 years examining and recording footprints and tracks within Middle Jurassic sediments during which time a database of prints have been developed. The prints have been classified into three main groups as follows: the A group consists of prints made by habitual quadrupeds e.g. sauropods. Group B , the most common type in the Cleveland Basin , are tridactyl  prints. Group C are types that represent a behavioural pattern, e.g. “furrow” marks made in sediment when swimming. The three groups of prints are illustrated at the end of this report. Dr. Whyte pointed out that the different types could have been made by the same animal, the emphasis being on print characteristics rather than an attempt to identify the dinosaur or reptile. Cf. diagram at the end of this report.   On approaching Saltwick Nab, the NW –SE trending reef near the low water mark of the Top Jet Dogger of the Mulgrave Shale Member was noted. The wave cut platform displayed several pyritised Pseudomytiloides dubius and ammonites (Harpoceras and Dactylioceras sp.).

After crossing over (with care) the neck of Saltwick Nab the party stopped to examine a fallen block (cf. picture above) from the Saltwick Formation which contains prints which have been attributed to a primitive Jurassic stegosaurian dinosaur. The block is upside down and contains three casts of the original moulds made by animal footprints. The upper left print shows indentations made by the gaps between the “toes” of an elephant-like foot. These prints would belong to the A group.

After scrambling over cliff fall boulders the party examined another block containing at least one tridactyl (three toed) print, cf. pictureon above. The print is just to the right of the hand lens. Additionally, there are several other marks of an indeterminate nature. The tridactyl print would belong to the B group.

A few years ago a member of the North Eastern Geological Society discovered “scratch marks” on a fallen block of mud/siltstone. The block was lying at the eastern end of Long Bight on top of the Dogger Formation where it rises (west to east) from its synclinal axis. The marks have been interpreted as being made by a swimming reptile in a river or lake where its feet would be just touching the bottom. This type of print would be assigned to the C group. The scratch marks, on average about 8cm in length are quite evident in the lower left hand corner of the photo to the left.

The photo, (left), taken in the cliff face shows a horizon, (cf. the black arrow), where several sauropod like prints have deformed the underside of the sandstone bed. For scale, the man is 6’ 2”. An interesting exercise would be to establish whether the prints were made by one dinosaur, several over a span of time, or several almost simultaneously (“dinoturbation”).

In spite of rain during the latter half of the field visit, the party really enjoyed the day and participants expressed their appreciation to Dr. Whyte for his enthusiasm for this topic and for having given so generously of his time.

Diagrams, taken from actual specimens, showing the range of track morphotypes recognized so far from the non-marine rocks of the Ravenscar Group. All types in groups A and B are regarded as dinosaurian in origin. In Group C, types Civ-Cvi are assigned to crocodilians and Cvii to chelonians. Note the scale bar for Group A is different from that common to Group B and Group C. The above diagram is taken from: M. Romano and M. A. Whyte. Jurassic dinosaur tracks and trackways of the Cleveland Basin, Yorkshire: preservation, diversity and distribution Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, May 2003, v. 54:pp. 185-215.

Other refs. M. A. Whyte, M. Romano, J. G. Hudson, and W. Watts. Discovery of the largest theropod dinosaur track known from the Middle Jurassic of Yorkshire Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society November 2006, v. 56:77-80. M. Romano, M. A. Whyte, and P. L. Manning New sauropod dinosaur prints from the Saltwick Formation (Middle Jurassic) of the Cleveland Basin, Yorkshire Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society November 1999, v. 52:361-369. Martin A. Whyte, Mike Romano, and Will Watts Yorkshire dinosaurs: a history in two parts Geological Society, London, Special Publications January 2010, v. 343:189-207

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