Tuesday 20 September 2011

Trace fossils

Trace fossils provide glimpses of the nature and behaviour of ancient organisms of the geological record. Trace  fossils are extremely important as they can help us interpret the palaeo-environment. Trace fossils preserve the activity of an organism, not the organism itsellf. These include tracks,trails,burrows,borings and excrement. when an organism walk across soft fine sediment and leaves the inprint of its feet. There is then a very small chance that the footprints will be filled in by sediment before they are destroyed by water currents or wind.

No comments:

Post a Comment