Trace fossil analysis (Google eBook)

Adolf Seilacher

Springer, 2007 - Nature - 226 pages

Trace fossils record the behavior of animals at the very spot where they lived millions of years ago. Their growing interest derives from the intimate connection between ichnology and sedimentology and their combined relevance for paleoenvironmental reconstructions, basin analysis, and petroleum exploration. This definitive textbook by a renowned field observer and analyst of trace fossils concentrates on the most distinctive examples, mostly made by infaunal invertebrates in originally soft sediments. It covers the whole geologic column and ranges from deep-sea to shallow-marine and continental environments. Seilacher's Trace Fossil Analysis is designed to foster interpretative skills using the author's own iconic drawings. They are thematically grouped in 75 plates that form the core for the descriptive text and annotated references. A glossary of ichnological terms is also provided.

Contents

• Vertebrate Tracks: 1
• Chirotherium The Sherlock Holmes Approach: 6
• Undertracks in Wet Sands: 8
• Tambach Ichnotope: 10
• CoconinoType Ichnotopes: 12
• Fish Trails: 14
• Arthropod Trackways: 17
• Limulid Tracks Kouphichnium: 20
• Other Arthropod Trackways: 22
• Trilobite Tracks: 24
• Adventures of an Early Cambrian Trilobite: 26
• Potsdam Sandstone Trackways: 28
• Trilobite Burrows: 31
• Trilobite Biology and Cruziana Authorship: 34
• Trilobite Fingerprints: 36
• Cruziana Modifications: 38
• Cruziana semiplicata: 40
• Burrowing Behavior of Silurian Trilobites: 42
• Arthropod Tunnel Systems: 45
• Crab and Shrimp Burrows: 50
• Other Arthropod Tunnels and Nests: 52
• Ophiomorphids: 54
• Rhizocoralliids: 56
• Rhizocoralliid Modifications: 58
• Resting Traces: 61
• Burrowing Techniques: 64
• Undertrace Experiments: 66
• Bilateral Resting Traces: 68
• Asterozoan Resting Traces: 70
• Coelenterate Resting Burrows: 72
• Burrows of Short Bulldozers: 75
• Echinoid Burrows: 78
• Molluscan Bulldozers: 80
• Paleozoic Psammichnitids: 82
• Psammichnitid Behavioral Evolution: 84
• Bi and Tripartite Backfill Bodies: 86
• Burrows of Wormlike Bulldozers: 89
• Trace Fossil Classification: 92
• Unbranched Burrows: 94
• Spiral Burrows: 96
• Nereitids: 98
• Gyrochortids: 100
• Burrows of Stripminers: 103
• Modern UTubes: 106
• Backfill Structures: 108
• PostPaleozoic Zoophycos: 110
• Daedaloid Burrows: 112
• Lophocteniids: 114
• Arthrophycid Burrows: 117
• Teichichnid Burrows: 120
• Arthrophycids I: 122
• Arthrophycids II: 124
• Arthrophycids III: 126
• Arthrophycids IV: 128
• Probers: 131
• Asterosomids: 134
• Medusiform Burrows Gyrophyllitids: 136
• Various Fucoids: 138
• Undermat Miners: 140
• Chondritids: 142
• Deepsea Farmers: 145
• Meandering: 148
• Graphoglyptids I: 150
• Graphoglyptids II: 152
• Graphoglyptids III: 154
• Paleodictyon: 156
• PseudoTraces: 159
• Tracelike Body Fossils Xenophyophoria: 162
• Tool Marks: 164
• Synsedimentary Structures: 166
• Diagenetic Structures: 168
• Tectograms: 170
• Earliest Trace Fossils: 173
• PreEdiacaran Dubiostructures: 176
• Ediacaran Sole Features: 178
• Traces of Early Molluscs: 180
• Treptichnus pedum: 182
• The Cambrian Revolution: 184
• Cruziana Stratigraphy: 187
• Stratigraphic and Paleogeographic Distribution: 190
• Cambrian Trilobite Burrows: 192
• Ordovician Trilobite Burrows: 194
• Silurian to Carboniferous Trilobite Burrows: 196
• TransGondwanan Seaway: 198
• Ichnofacies: 201
• Global Ichnofacies: 204
• Postturbidite Ichnocoenoses: 206
• Frozen Tiering and Telescoping in ShallowMarine Settings: 208
• Interactions between Trace Fossils: 210
• Solnhofen Mortichnia: 212
• Glossary: 215
• Index: 217

Bibliographic information

• Title: Trace fossil analysis
• Author: Adolf Seilacher
• Publisher: Springer, 2007
• ISBN: 3540472266, 9783540472261
• Length: 226 pages
• Subjects: Nature / Fossils