Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
4468294 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2008 6 Pages PDF
Abstract

Due to divergent taphonomic selection, corresponding body and trace fossils are rarely found in the same rocks. In addition to this general rule, arthropod trackways are preferentially preserved in particular settings: (1) lithographic limestones, where toxic bottom waters account for the exceptional preservation of body fossils at the end of their “mortichnial” trackways; (2) estuarine and lacustrine biolaminites that yield blurred surface tracks as well as the sharper undertracks; and (3) Cambrian intertidal sands before the Precambrian/Cambrian substrate revolution had reached this environment. In all these ichnotopes, the original presence of protective microbial films can be inferred from sedimentary structures. By analogy, it is hypothesised that microbes (“bioglue”) may have been involved in the preservation of trackways in eolian dune sands. The absence of arthropod tracks in Ediacaran sands and silts means either that arthropods had not yet evolved or that they were as yet too tiny to pierce the tougher biomats of the time.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth-Surface Processes
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