3D Ichnology—recovering digital 3D models of dinosaur footprints

Abstract

Abstract Ichnology deals with the traces of prehistoric organisms and thus with the study of dinosaur footprints and tracks. This paper reports on a reliable and precise methodology developed to integrate high‐resolution close range photogrammetry and range sensors for 3D surveys of dinosaur footprints. The 3D footprint and track models recovered here yield a great deal of accurate morphological and morphometrical information, providing palaeoichnologists with a simpler and cheaper way to document track fossils and the opportunity to formulate new hypotheses about the dynamics of dinosaur locomotion.