Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

Miocene Vertebrate Footprints from the Upper Red Formation, Mushampa Area, Zanjan Province

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors
1 Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran
2 Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
       Numerous vertebrates footprints have been found in the Miocene Upper Red Formation sandstone and siltstone layers in the 3 km west of Mushampa village, west Zanjan province. Most of the footprints were preserved as hypichnia, include bird’s webbed footprints Culcitapeda tridens and Culcitapeda isp.; tetradactyle footprint  Antarctichnus isp. and digitigrad footprints Avipeda isp. A and Avipeda isp.B. Carnivora footprints are Bestiopeda isp. and Credontipes isp. ichnogenuses. It seems that sedimentary environment was a shallow-water pan of a marginal marine environment, and footprints formed on the exposed sediments.
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