Preserving Dinosaur Tracks on Dinosaur Ridge, Morrison, Colorado

摘要

To what extent can terrestrial photogrammetry be used for displays and/or engineering purposes? What is the state-of-the-art of the technology? What were the difficulties encountered, and how were they circumvented? These are the questions we asked aswe set out to determine how best to photograph and preserve the dinosaur tracks on Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison. Colorado. The "'Friends of Dinosaur Ridge" group that manages the site for the town of Morrison. Colorado, was interested in finding a way tomeasure site deterioration due to climate, and the reduction of the number of footprints due to theft. Figure 1 shows holes in the surface (shored up with metal strips held by rebar) where important footprints have already been removed by thieves. In addition, the group is considering the installation of a roof that covers the site so that tracks can be better protected from the elements. Winds at the site can exceed 160 Km/hr., and snowfalls can exceed 2 m. This means that the roof has to be well engineered.