ABSTRACT Dinosaur tracks have been illustrated since they were first found. The earliest illustrations depicted dinosaur tracks as the work of mythical beings. With the advent of scientific inquiry into dinosaur tracks in the nineteenth century, natural explanations were sought for the fossil tracks. Illustrations of the period were relatively realistic but were influenced by then-current beliefs and were constrained by the artists’ skills and by what scientists considered salient. In the mid-nineteenth century, the first photographs were used for the scientific study of fossil tracks. Photography eliminated some limitations of artistic talent and showed complete specimens, not just aspects that were deemed salient. The ability to compare and name similar tracks from disparate authors and places became easier. Advances in photography, laser scanning, optical scanning and lidar, and the ability to manipulate images with computers, have enabled the modern synthesis of illustrating dinosaur tracks, which combines many types of images. With each advance and the adoption of newer technologies, the older methods have not been retired. Rather, we have continued to see new uses for old methods and an integration of illustrative styles. For Patrick. Your friendship and your vision will be so deeply missed.

The 2021 GSA Northeastern, Southeastern, joint North-Central/South-Central, and Cordilleran Section Meet-ings were held virtually in spring 2021 during continued restrictions on travel and large gatherings due to COVID-19. Eleven groups put together field guides, taking participants on treks to states from Connecticut to Nevada in the United States, to Mexico, and to Italy, and covering topics as varied as bedrock geologic map-ping, geochemistry, paleodrainage, barrier islands, karst, spring systems, a southern Appalachian transect, Ordo-vician and Mississippian stratigraphy, high-energy events, Cretaceous arc granites and dextral shear zones, and Mesoproterozoic igneous rocks. This volume serves as a valuable resource for those wishing to discover, learn more about, and travel through these geologically fascinating areas.

Abstract The Hartford-Deerfield basin, a Late Triassic to Early Jurassic rift basin located in central Connecticut and Massachusetts, is the northernmost basin of the onshore Mesozoic rift basins in the eastern United States. The presence of asphaltic petroleum in outcrops indicates that at least one active petroleum system has existed within the basin. However, to-date oil and gas wells have not been drilled in the basin to test any type of petroleum trap. There are good to excellent quality source rocks (up to 3.8% present day total organic carbon) within the Jurassic East Berlin and Portland formations. While these source rock intervals are fairly extensive and at peak oil to peak gas stages of maturity, individual source rock beds are relatively thin (typically less than 1 m) based solely on outcrop observations. Potential reservoir rocks within the Hartford-Deerfield basin are arkosic conglomerates, pebbly sandstones, and finer grained sandstones, shales, siltstones, and fractured igneous rocks of the Triassic New Haven and Jurassic East Berlin and Portland formations (and possibly other units). Sandstone porosity data from 75 samples range from less than 1% to 21%, with a mean of 5%. Permeability is equally low, except around joints, fractures, and faults. Seals are likely to be unfractured intra-formational shales and tight igneous bodies. Maturation, generation, and expulsion likely occurred during the late synrift period (Early Jurassic) accentuated by an increase in local geothermal gradient, igneous intrusions, and hydrothermal fluid circulation. Migration pathways were likely along syn- and postrift faults and fracture zones. Petroleum resources, if present, are probably unconventional (continuous) accumulations as conventionally accumulated petroleum is likely not present in significant volumes.

Abstract The removal of obsolete and unsafe dams for safety, environmental, or economic purposes frequently involves the exploration of sediments trapped within the impoundment and the subsequent assessment of sediment management needs and techniques. Sediment management planning requires a thorough understanding of the watershed’s surficial geology, topography, land cover, land use, and hydrology. The behavior of sediments is influenced by their age, consolidation, and stratigraphy. All watersheds have a history that helps forecast sediment loads, quality, gradation, and stratigraphy. Impounded sediment deposits may include coarse deltas and foreset slopes, fine or coarse bottom deposits, cohesive or organic matter, and wedge deposits immediately behind the dam. Some watersheds have anthropogenic pollutants from agricultural activities, mining, industries, or urban runoff. The volume and rate of sediment release during and after small dam removal can be limited by active management plans to reduce potential downstream impacts. Management strategies include natural erosion, phased breaches and drawdowns, natural revegetation of sediment surfaces, pre-excavation of an upstream channel, hazardous waste removal or containment, flow bypass plans, and sediment dredging.

Nonpedogenic calcrete is difficult to distinguish from pedogenic calcrete in the fossil record; both alpha and beta textures have been observed from fossil and modern examples. However, a calcrete from the New Haven Arkose (Hartford Basin, Connecticut) is shown here to be of a nonpedogenic origin through sedimentologic and petrographic evidence. An accumulation of thin sheets of displacive calcite layers found in a decimeter-thick horizon of anastomosing veins within the upper portion of a red mudstone is correlated to calcite cement found in the overlying sandstone. Based on petrography, we recognize six generations of calcite in the mudstone-sandstone hosts. The first five generations are associated with rhizoliths that can be related to deep taproots and are interpreted to have formed by precipitation from shallow groundwater. There are no vadose-type cement morphologies; the calcite has luminescent zones, indicating that Mn was soluble and thus oxygen levels were low. These cements clearly formed several meters below what would have been the surface of the channel sand body. We suggest that calcite cement stratigraphy combined with redox models for the behavior of Mn (as well as Fe and U) may aid in the identification of nonpedogenic versus pedogenic carbonates in the geologic record. Additionally, the calcite from this carbonate layer has been dated using the U-Pb method. Our results provide insight into the environmental and diagenetic fluid conditions favorable for providing a spread in U/Pb ratios that are suitable for precise dating of calcites in otherwise undateable sections. Las calcretas no-pedogénicas son difíciles de diferenciar de las pedogénicas en el registro antiguo; los dos tipos de textura alfa y beta se reconocen en depósitos antiguos y recientes. Sin embargo, en el caso concreto de la calcreta de New Haven Arkose (Cuenca Hartford, Connecticut), los datos sedimentológicos y las evidencias petrográficas permiten demostrar su origen no-pedogénico. La presencia, dentro de lutitas rojas, de finas capas de calcita desplazativa dentro de un horizonte decimétrico de venas anastomosadas se puede correlacionar con la formación de cemento calcítico en las areniscas infrayacentes a dichas lutitas rojas. Petrográficametne se reconocen seis generaciones de calcita en las lutitas y areniscas que constituyen el sustrato. Las cinco primeras generaciones están asociadas con rizolitos de sistemas radiculares profundos y se pudieron formar por precipitación a partir de aguas freáticas someras. No hay cementos vadosos y la calcita tiene zonas luminiscentes indicando que el Mn era soluble y, por tanto, los niveles de oxígeno bajos. Estos cementos se formaron claramente varios metros por debajo de lo que fue la superficie del canal de arenas. Sugerimos que la estratigrafía de los cementos de calcita combinada con los modelos redox de comportamiento de Mn (también Fe y U) pueden ayudar en la identificación de los carbonatos pedogénicos y no-pedogénicos en el registro geológico. Además la calcita de esta capa carbonática se ha datado por el método de U-Pb. Nuestros resultados permiten una mejor caracterización de las condiciones ambientales y de los tipos de fluidos más favorables para ampliar el rango de valores U/Pb necesarios para datar calcitas en secciones que de otro modo no se podrían datar.