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Composite ichnofabrics and tiering of burrows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

R. G. Bromley  and
A. A. Ekdale
R. G. Bromley
Affiliation:
Geologisk Centralinstitut, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
A. A. Ekdale
Affiliation:
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Infaunal communities in marine environments typically are tiered; that is, different taxa live at different depths within the sediment. Tiered suites of biogenic structures yield complex biogenic sedimentary fabrics (ichnofabrics), with the traces of deep-burrowing organisms overprinted on those of shallow-burrowing organisms. Careful analysis of crosscutting relationships of burrows in such composite ichnofabrics allows reconstruction of the tiered nature of fossil endobenthic communities. It is important to recognize that the best preserved and most prominently displayed trace fossils in most assemblages usually represent the deepest tier. Thus, they were farther removed from the sea floor and therefore less indicative of actual sea floor conditions than the more poorly preserved traces of the shallower tiers, on which the deeper traces are juxtaposed.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 123 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 59 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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