A NEW VERTEBRATE FOOTPRINT LOCALITY FROM THE 
LATE TRIASSIC PASSAIC FORMATION NEAR BIRDSBORO, 
PENNSYLVANIA.  

	SZAJNA, Michael J., 519 Carsonia Ave., Reading, PA, 19606
		HARTLINE, Brian W., 2901 Filbert Ave., Reading, 
		PA, 19606

Although much recent progress has been made in defining the 
vertebrate footprint biostratigraphy of the Late Triassic - Early 
Jurassic Newark rift basin, several major gaps still remain.  New 
footprint finds at the Furnace Hill locality in the Ukrainian Member of 
the upper Passaic Formation provide essential information on one of 
the more poorly sampled intervals.  
	As is typical in Late Triassic strata, Rhynchosauroides sp. is 
the most abundant form present.  The dinosaurian ichnogenus 
Atreipus milfordensis records its stratigraphically highest occurrence 
and is the second most abundant form at Furnace Hill.  The 
identification of Chirotherium lulli here is based on a single, but 
unmistakable occurrence of two consecutive manus-pes sets.  This is 
the stratigraphically highest appearance of Chirotherium lulli.  Three-
toed, bipedal, theropod tracks referable to the ichnogenus Grallator 
are present, but not nearly as abundant as Atreipus.  Pes lengths for 
Grallator at this site range from 4 to 10 cm.  Brachychirotherium sp. 
was confidently identified from only two slabs, but several other 
poorly preserved tracks in the study set probably are referable to this 
ichnogenus.  Szajna and Hartline (1995) had reported the occurrence 
of Gwyneddichnium at this site, but these tracks have been reviewed 
and are now classified as indeterminate.
	The Furnace Hill site marks the last appearance of the 
Atreipus-dominated assemblage common in the Lockatong Formation 
(Carnian) and the lower Passaic Formation (Norian).  The ichnotaxa 
preserved here document that there has been virtually no change in the 
Newark basin vertebrate footprint assemblage from the Carnian to the 
Early Rhaetian.

Szajna, M. J., and Hartline, B. W., 1995, New vertebrate footprint
 assemblages from the Rhaetian interval of the Passaic Formation
in Berks County, Pennsylvania: Geological Society of America
Abstracts with Programs, 
v. 27, no. 1, p. 86.   


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