Peter Falkingham

My primary research focus is on dinosaur locomotion and footprint formation. Specifically, how the foot and sediment interact, and how we can subsequently reverse-engineer their formation in order to constrain and understand the limb motion of these extinct animals.

By understanding the motion of substrate around a dynamically moving foot, it is possible to use tracks to constrain possible motions of the distal (and therefore proximal) limb. My work incorporates digitisation of fossil tracks and computer simulation as well as using data from extant taxa using XROMM techniques to study the sub-surface motion of the foot during locomotion.

In addition to my work on footprints, I’m also involved in other research areas including dinosaur biomechanics and taxonomy, development of digitsation techniques and applications, cambrian echinoderm hydrodynamics, and materials science, collaborating with scientists from the UK, USA, across Europe, Australia, and South America.