Tucker County Footprints (Carboniferous of the United States)

Where: Tucker County, West Virginia (39.2° N, 79.8° W: paleocoordinates 9.8° S, 18.8° W)

When: Conemaugh Group, Middle Pennsylvanian (314.6 - 306.9 Ma)

• 320-280 million years ago, the footprints probably represent one of the first groups of creatures to venture landward from prehistoric swamps

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; mudstone

• in rocks just above the coal seam

•large low-lying swamp region

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: trace

Primary reference: T. R. Jake and B. M. Blake, Jr. 1982. 300 Million Year Old Footprints Found in Tucker County. Mountain State Geology 23-25 [M. Uhen/M. Shalap]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 125959: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Margaret Shalap on 27.03.2012

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• this find is unique because of the trackways (trail of footprints) which show how the animal placed it feet, can be seen crossing over each other at several locations. the specific animal isn't identified but it was land=loving amphibian with four distinct toes and a rounded heel print. creature was 18 to 24 inches long with a stride of 11 to 11.5 inches, stood 12 to 18 inches in height and may have been up to 10 pounds in weight
Amphibia
  -
? Amphibia indet. Linnaeus 1758 tetrapod