We investigated the radiometric ages and petrological characteristics of basaltic rocks with columnar joints, basalt gorge, pillow lava, and mantle xenolith, from the geoheritages designated as Natural Monuments of Korea in recognition of their historical, academic, and scenic excellence.A total of 7 Natural Monuments were selected.They are 'Basalt gorge along Daegyocheon Stream of Hantangang River', 'Basalt gorge and Bidulginangpokpo Falls of Hantangang River, Pocheon', 'Pillow lava in Auraji, Pocheon' distributed along the Chugaryeong Fault System, 'Peridotite xenolith-bearing basalt in Jinchon-ri Baengnyeongdo Island, Ongjin', 'Columnar joint in Daljeon-ri, Pohang', 'Columnar joint in Yangnam, Gyeongju', and 'Columnar joint along Jungmun and Daepo Coasts, Jeju'.They ranged in age from the Cenozoic Neogene Miocene to the Quarternary Pleistocene.Based on the composition of major elements, Hantangang Basalt corresponded to trachybasalt, Daljeon Basalt to phonotephrite, Eoil Basalt to sub-alkaline basalt, and Daepodong Basalt to alkaline basalt.And in the composition of trace and rare earth elements, only Eoil Basalt showed the characteristics of arc basalt, while the others showed the characteristics of oceanic island basalt.

ABSTRACT The relatively large (1,600 m2) Jeo-ri dinosaur tracksite from the Lower Cretaceous Sagok Formation in the Uiseong County area in Gyeongsangbuk-do (North Gyeongsang Province) was the first dinosaur tracksite designated as a Korean Natural Monument (Number 373). However, it has never been described in any detail. It is shown to reveal more than 380 footprints attributed to theropods, sauropods and ornithopods. The trackways show a preferred orientation to the north and northwest with some similarly sized ornithopod trackways suggesting gregarious behaviour. A smaller tracksite from the Mancheon-ri site, representing the Sagok Formation also reveals theropod, sauropod and ornithopod trackways. These include trackways of two small ornithopods (footprint lengths ~9.9-11.5 cm) that indicate deceleration while transitioning from bipedal to quadrupedal progression. One trackway shows rare evidence of pausing to ‘stand’ and leave ‘side-by-side’ footprints. The Sagok Formation is considered correlative with the Haman Formation which is well known for its dinosaur tracksites in Gyeongsangnam-do (South Gyeongsang Province). This correlation underscores the importance of understanding the remarkable abundance and spatiotemporal distribution of dinosaur tracks in the Lower Cretaceous of Korea.

Small pterosaur tracks were discovered from the Cretaceous Jinju Formation of Jinju City, South Korea, now famous as an ichnological Konservat-Lagerstatte and source of large numbers of well-preserved tetrapod track assemblages. These small tracks are among similar to 2500 reported from the vicinity of the Jinju Pterosaur Tracks Museum which represented the world's largest concentration of pterosaur tracks and multiple pterosaur track-bearing strata. The small tracks, which are the focus of this study are preserved as natural impressions (concave epirelief) on the surface of a dark grey shale slab. Manus tracks have average values of 27.2 mm length, 9.3 mm width and 3.0 length/width ratio. Pes tracks have average values of 27.8 mm length, 12.3 mm width and 2.2 length/width ratio. The sizes of the tracks are about as small as other small pterosaur tracks previously reported from Korea (P. koreanensis), Japan (P. nipponensis) and Spain (P. longipodus and P. parvus). Nevertheless, morphological characteristics of these tracks are clearly distinguished from those of ichnospecies mentioned above in divarication angles between manus digits, shape of pes imprints and length/width ratio of manus. Especially, the high elongation obtained from the narrow width of the manus and the length of elongated digit III and the shape of isosceles triangular pes are the most prominent and diagnostic features. Thus, the small pterosaur tracks described herein, Pteraichnus gracilis ichnosp. nov., are considered a different type among established pterosaurian ichnotaxa. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The track rich Cretaceous Jindong Formation is famous for abundant tetrapod track assemblages, which occur at multiple, closely-spaced stratigraphic levels in the Gyeongsang Basin lake deposits of South Korea. However, until now no fish traces or fish body fossils had been reported. Thus, the discovery of three Undichna ichnospecies (U. simplicitas, U. bina, and U. britannica) provide the first direct evidence of fish in the basin. Paired in-phase traces vary in width and indicate a range of fish sizes among the tracemakers. Undichna assemblages represent a shallow lacustrine Undichna ichnocoenosis. Bird tracks (Ignotornis) registered on the same surface represent the superposition of a shorebird ichnocoenosis. Dinosaur tracks (Brontopodus and Caririchnium) associated with surfaces only similar to 1 m below the bird and fish traces, represent additional large tetrapod ichnocoenoses, and demonstrate multiple, superimposed ichnocoenoses, interpenetrating localized sedimentary successions which are little separated in space or time. The Undichna and shorebird, ichnocoenoses are considered, in schema followed here, as representative of higher-level 'archetypal' Charachichnos and Grallator ichnofacies respectively. However, it is not clear whether a third ichnocoenosis and ichnofacies is represented by the Brontopodus and Caririchnium assemblages or the extent to which the overprinting of different ichnofaunas in localized areas always allows for the unambiguous application of ichnocoenois and ichnofacies schema. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abundant well-preserved bird tracks from lacustrine Green River Formation (Eocene) deposits in Utah, are diverse and paleoecologically significant, but remain poorly known. Three of the four previously reported morphotypes (A-D) are named here for the first time with two representing new ichnotaxa. In order of increased footprint length (L) the ichnotaxa are: cf.Avipeda phoenix(L = 2.0 cm);Quadridigitus semimembranusichnogen. et ichnosp. nov. (L = similar to 3.5 cm);Jindongornipes falkbuckleyiichnosp. nov. (L similar to 8.0 cm); and previously named, web-footedPresbyornithiformipes feduccii(L = 9.5 cm). Collectively these avian ichnotaxa, associated invertebrate traces including ubiquitous nematode trails (Cochlichnus), and other rarer, small tetrapod tracks represent the "shorebird" ichnofacies or ichnocoenosis. However, the local track assemblages from the Uinta Basin do not correspond to the avian body fossil record from multiple Green River basins in the larger region. Thus, both records are essential for a cumulative picture. The Green River ichnotaxa are morphologically similar to those from lake basins in the Korean Cretaceous, and modern shorebird assemblages. As modern shorebirds are not known from Cretaceous or Eocene body fossils, the most plausible explanation is community convergence, among taxonomically disparate, but ecologically convergent trackmakers. Community convergence concepts help refine the ichnofacies paradigm.

This is the first report of the webbed bird tracks from the middle part of the Jinju Formation (Lower Cretaceous: upper Aptian-lower Albian) in Bito Island, Seopo-myeon, Sacheon City, Gyeongnam, South Korea. Although it is well known that the avian tracks are very abundant and diverse in the Cretaceous Hayang and Yucheon groups of the Gyeongsang Supergroup, bird tracks of the Sindong Group have never been reported. The bird tracks, which are comparatively small (about 3.5 cm length excluding hallux), tetradactyl with a functional reversed hallux, asymmetric and semi-palmate webbing in the hypex between digits II-III and III-IV and are characterized by narrow divarication angle (about 79.8 degrees) between digits II and IV, are described herein as a new ichnotaxon, Ignotornis seoungjoseoi ichnosp. nov. Left and right footprints set showing standing traces is well preserved on the track surface. Tracks of Jindongornipes ichnosp. were also recovered from the intertidal zone of Bito Island, and is the first report of this ichnogenus from the Jinju Formation on Bito Island. The discovery of two ichnotaxa of bird tracks from the Jinju Formation demonstrates that bird diversity from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian-lower Albian) to Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) track record, and the record of terrestrial vertebrate diversity from the Cretaceous Period of Korea, is still in the process of being fully documented and understood. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

LA-MC-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating was conducted to constrain the timing of fossil formation and the depositional age of the uppermost Jinju Formation located in Natural Monument No. 534 (Tracksite of Pterosaurs, Birds, and Dinosaurs in Hotandong, Jinju), and 87 Cretaceous, 1 Precambrian, and 2 Jurassic zircons were obtained from 90 valid analytical points. Most Cretaceous zircons were found to have a youngest graphical peak age of ca. 106.5 Ma, suggesting the depositional age of the uppermost Jinju Formation. Based on this study and previous works, the average sedimentation rate of the Jinju Formation was calculated to be approximately 0.17-0.31 mm/year in the Milyang Subbasin, and the Cretaceous zircons of the uppermost Jinju Formation seem to have originated mainly from the western or northwestern parts of the Gyeonggi Massif. Unlike the Nakdong and Hasandong formations of the Sindong Group, most zircons analyzed in the uppermost Jinju Formation were Cretaceous. This suggests that volcanic activity occurred in the area closer to the Gyeongsang Basin due to the roll-back of subducting paleo-Pacific Plates during the Jinju period.

Large well-preserved crocodylomorph tracks from the Lower Cretaceous (? Aptian) Jinju Formation of South Korea, represent the well-known crocodylomorph ichnogenus Batrachopus. The Korean sample includes multiple, narrow-gauge, pes-only trackways with footprint lengths (FL) 18–24 cm, indicating trackmaker body lengths up to ~3.0 m. Surprisingly, the consistent absence of manus tracks in trackways, with well-preserved digital pad and skin traces, argues for bipedal trackmakers, here assigned to Batrachopus grandis ichnosp. nov. No definitive evidence, either from pes-on-manus overprinting or poor track preservation, suggests the trackways where made by quadrupeds that only appear bipedal. This interpretation helps solve previous confusion over interpretation of enigmatic tracks of bipeds from younger (? Albian) Haman Formation sites by showing they are not pterosaurian as previously inferred. Rather, they support the strong consensus that pterosaurs were obligate quadrupeds, not bipeds. Lower Jurassic Batrachopus with foot lengths (FL) in the 2–8 cm range, and Cretaceous Crocodylopodus (FL up to ~9.0 cm) known only from Korea and Spain registered narrow gauge trackways indicating semi-terrestrial/terrestrial quadrupedal gaits. Both ichnogenera, from ichnofamily Batrachopodidae, have been attributed to Protosuchus-like semi-terrestrial crocodylomorphs. The occurrence of bipedal B. grandis ichnosp. nov. is evidence of such adaptations in the Korean Cretaceous.

The distinctive crocodylian ichnogenus Crocodylopodus, previously reported only from a few Jurassic and lowermost Cretaceous sites in Europe, Central Asia and North Africa, occurs abundantly at several sites in the Cretaceous (?Aptian) Jinju Formation of Korea. It is therefore the first report of the ichnogenus from East Asia. Comparison between known crocodylian ichnogenera show that Crocodylopodus and Batrachopus, the latter predominantly known from the Lower Jurassic, represent small trackmakers that left narrow walking trackways with no tail traces, mostly in fine-grained emergent, lacustrine shoreline facies. In contrast the large crocodylian ichnogenus Hatcherichnus represents swimming behavior of large animals in siliciclastic fluvial, coastal plain settings, particularly in North America, where they represent a swim track ichnofacies. Such contrast between large aquatic crocodylian tracks, which remain very rare in the Cretaceous of Asia, and small Crocodylopodus spoor, show that the Korean occurrences represent a different paleoecology characterized by diverse, mostly small lake basin tetrapods.

Small theropod tracks, ichnogenus Minisauripus , from the Jinju Formation (Cretaceous) of Korea reveal exquisitely preserved skin texture impressions. This is the first report for any dinosaur of skin traces that cover entire footprints, and every footprint in a trackway. Special sedimentological conditions allowed footprint registration without smearing of skin texture patterns which consist of densely-packed, reticulate arrays of small (<0.5 mm) polygons, preserved as both impressions and casts, the latter essentially foot replicas. The skin texture resembles that reported for two Lower Cretaceous avian theropods (birds) from China which had quite different foot morphologies. This is also the oldest report of Minisauripus from Korea predating five reports from the Haman Formation of inferred Albian age. Minisauripus is now known from six Korean and three Chinese localities, all from the Lower Cretaceous. This gives a total sample of ~95 tracks representing ~54 trackways. With >80% of tracks <3.0 cm long, Minisauripus is pivotal in debates over whether small tracks represent small species, as the database suggests, or juveniles of large species.

Newly discovered frog tracks from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian–lower Albian) Jinju Formation, South Korea, represent only the second report from Asia, and only the third global report from the Mesozoic. They are also the oldest reported from the fossil record, and can be assigned to Ranipes isp. indet. These tracks add to the rapidly growing list of small tetrapod tracks recovered from large excavations in the Jinju Formation, in Jinju City. Such small tracks owe their preservation to an abundance of fine-grained lacustrine sediments suitable for registration of small tetrapod tracks that are generally very rare or absent from most facies. The trackways indicate hopping locomotion.

A newly discovered assemblage of lizard tracks from the Lower Cretaceous Jinju Formation (Sindong Group, Gyeongsang Basin) Korea is the largest yet reported from the Cretaceous. It consists of at least 95 tracks comprising five trackways, including a meter-long trackway (T1) with 50 footprints assigned to the new ichnotaxon Neosauroides innovatus ichnosp. nov. Two other trackways (T2 and T3) are designated N. innovatus paratypes characterized by strong heteropody, relatively wide trackways and small narrow manus tracks. These morphological characteristics distinguish Neosauroides innovatus from the previously reported lizard trackways Sauripes hadongensis from the Hasandong Formation and Neosauroides koreaensis from the Haman Formation, both also from the Gyeongsang Basin. These three lizard track assemblages from the Korean Cretaceous constitute the entire global lizard track record for this period. The Mesozoic record of lizard tracksites is more localized than the lizard body fossil record. This limited distribution suggests bias in the track record and the fossil record more generally. However, due to deposition of fine-grained substrates, suitable for high definition track registration, the Jinju Formation is increasingly well known as an ichnological window on small tetrapod activity and based on diversity, abundance and high-quality preservation, is regarded as an exceptional Konservat-Lagerstätten.

Ongoing studies of a multiple track-bearing horizons from massive excavations in the Jinju Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of South Korea have yielded a remarkable diversity of avian, non-avian dinosaur, pterosaur, crocodilian and mammal tracks, many very small and well preserved. Here we report diminutive, didactyl tracks (~1.0 cm long) assigned to a new dromaeosaurid ichnogenus Dromaeosauriformipes, which resembles the larger, but still quite small, ichnogenus Dromaeosauripus, also from the same formation only 30 km away. These diminutive tracks are consistent with the foot size of smaller dromaeosaurid taxa like Early Cretaceous Microraptor from China, and may represent diminutive species or juveniles of larger species. The association of tracks with lakeshore sediments is consistent with the evidence that Microraptor was a fish eater. Two trackways and isolated tracks indicate variable trackmaker gaits and speeds. If oviparous, as assumed for most non-avian dinosaur neonates, the trackmakers must have hatched from tiny eggs. Previous studies of the Korean Cretaceous indicate the presence of other diminutive (~1.0 cm long) theropod tracks (Minisauripus). Such occurrences strongly suggest that small tracks attributed to juveniles, or very small tetrapod species, are more common than previously supposed especially where suitable preservation conditions prevailed.

Despite the extreme, well-documented abundance of tracks of herbivorous dinosaurs (ornithopods and sauropods), avian theropods and pterosaurs, from the Cretaceous of Korea the footprints of non-avian theropods have previously been reported only sporadically from the Cretaceous Gyeongsang Supergroup of Korea, without clear attribution to any ichnogenus. Here we report an assemblage of well-preserved theropod tracks from the Lower Cretaceous (?Aptian) Jinju Formation of the Jinju City area that contains distinctive ichnogenera including Grallator sensu lato, Corpulentapus and Asianopodus. These ichnotaxa were previously only known to co-occur in the Lower Cretaceous of China. In combination with other track evidence from the Lower Cretaceous of both China and Korea, this assemblage strengthens previous interpretations of the distinctive, apparently endemic nature of many East Asian dinosaurian ichnotaxa. The assemblage also helps refine debate over the age of track assemblages in the Lower Cretaceous of East Asia, and differences between assemblages from the lower and upper stages of the Lower Cretaceous.

Pterosaur tracks were discovered recently in the Daegok-ri dinosaur tracksite (Ulsan Metropolitan City Cultural Properties No. 13), Ulju-gun, Ulsan. Those tracks were reported as being the first in the Cretaceous deposits of Ulsan area. This tracksite is located relatively far from the Gyeongsangnam-do coastal area where pterosaur tracks were reported intensively, and there are stratigraphic differences. This study described the pterosaur tracks and trackway of the Daegok-ri tracksite and discussed the spatio-temporal distribution of the Cretaceous pterosaurs in the Korean Peninsula. The pterosaur footprints founded in Daegok-ri can be classified as Pteraichnus ichnosp., followed by the morphological characteristics. Based on the distribution of the pterosaur tracks on the Korean Peninsula including the Daegok-ri pterosaur tracks, it was estimated that the Cretaceous pterosaurs on the Korean Peninsula had survived approximately for 40 million years from 120 Ma (i.e., Early Cretaceous) to 80 Ma (i.e., Late Cretaceous) and inhabited in various sedimentary environments regardless of the basin size and the specific sedimentary environments. Furthermore, the occurrence of the sauropod, omithopod, theropod, pterosaurs, birds, and crocodyliforms tracks/trackways in the Daegok-ri area represented that the Cretaceous vertebrate ichnodiversity was fairly high.

Myotis rufoniger is a vesper bat in the genus Myotis. Here we report the whole genome sequence and analyses of the M. rufoniger. We generated 124 Gb of short-read DNA sequences with an estimated genome size of 1.88 Gb at a sequencing depth of 66× fold. The sequences were aligned to M. brandtii bat reference genome at a mapping rate of 96.50% covering 95.71% coding sequence region at 10× coverage. The divergence time of Myotis bat family is estimated to be 11.5 million years, and the divergence time between M. rufoniger and its closest species M. davidii is estimated to be 10.4 million years. We found 1,239 function-altering M. rufoniger specific amino acid sequences from 929 genes compared to other Myotis bat and mammalian genomes. The functional enrichment test of the 929 genes detected amino acid changes in melanin associated DCT, SLC45A2, TYRP1, and OCA2 genes possibly responsible for the M. rufoniger's red fur color and a general coloration in Myotis. N6AMT1 gene, associated with arsenic resistance, showed a high degree of function alteration in M. rufoniger. We further confirmed that the M. rufoniger also has bat-specific sequences within FSHB, GHR, IGF1R, TP53, MDM2, SLC45A2, RGS7BP, RHO, OPN1SW, and CNGB3 genes that have already been published to be related to bat's reproduction, lifespan, flight, low vision, and echolocation. Additionally, our demographic history analysis found that the effective population size of Myotis clade has been consistently decreasing since ~30k years ago. M. rufoniger's effective population size was the lowest in Myotis bats, confirming its relatively low genetic diversity.

A trackway of a small hopping mammaliform trackmaker from the Jinju Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Jinju City area, Korea, is the first of this type reported from the Mesozoic of Asia, and globally. The animal left a narrow trackway (similar to 20 mm wide) with small tetradactyl footprints averaging less than 10 mm in diameter. Only two footprints registered with each hop (mean length 41 mm) thus indicating a bipedal gait. All trackway evidence suggests a small "mouse-like" trackmaker. Previous reports of trackways made by hopping tetrapods from the Mesozoic are rare and presently restricted to ichnogenus Ameghinichnus isp. indet., from the Jurassic of Argentina. Ichnogenus Musaltipes from the Cenozoic of North America, is the only other ichnogenus representing a hopping mammal. The Korean specimen here named Koreasaltipes jinjuensis, is different from these aforementioned ichnogenera in digit count, digit proportion and trackway configuration, as well as lack of tail trace. Koreasaltipes jinjuensis is from a lake shore paleoenvironment associated with nematode tracks (Cochlichnus isp.), other small tetrapod tracks attributed to avian theropods (birds), pterosaurs and crocodylomorphs, as well as larger saurischian dinosaurs. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.