Fly, little spud, fly
On day 2 of field work in the South Gabriel creek in Leander, TX, the weather was perfect and the tracks were cleaned. The drone ‘spud’, nickname in relation to its size, was deployed to capture high resolution pictures of each trackways. Dianna must operate the drone rapidly: past 11 am, the sun will project shadows on the outcrop that can alter the quality of the 3D model of trackways. We all grab a broom or a brush to remove the last bits of mud from tracks, then we use a leaves blower for the finishing touches. Then the spud can finally fly.
In the video above, Dianna controls the drone with her phone at about 9 ft of height. The drone flies in a horizontal plane parallel to the surface of the trackway. White squares of cardboard are used to locate the extent of the trackway and helps with the stitching of pictures.
In the meantime, the rest of the team describes beds below, at and above the levels where trackways are preserved, and collects rock samples that will be analyzed for their fossil content and geochemistry on UTSA campus to derive information on the environment where these dinosaurs lived and walked.
