File:Trace fossils (Berea Sandstone, Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian; Blendon Woods Park, Columbus, Ohio, USA) (35455655570).jpg

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Bioturbated quartzose sandstone from the Paleozoic of Ohio, USA. (view of bottom surface of slab)

Trace fossils are any indirect evidence of ancient life. They refer to features in rocks that do not represent parts of the body of a once-living organism. Traces include footprints, tracks, trails, burrows, borings, and bitemarks. Body fossils provide information about the morphology of ancient organisms, while trace fossils provide information about the behavior of ancient life forms. Interpreting trace fossils and determination of the identity of a trace maker can be straightforward (for example, a dinosaur footprint represents walking behavior) or not. Sediments that have trace fossils are said to be bioturbated. Burrowed textures in sedimentary rocks are referred to as bioturbation. Trace fossils have scientific names assigned to them, in the same style and manner as living organisms or body fossils.

The traces seen above are convex hyporelief vermiform burrows. This means that the traces are on the basal bedding plane of the slab and are projecting downward/outward. "Vermiform" refers to the worm-like shape. The rock slab is eroded from a Berea Sandstone outcrop in central Ohio. The Berea caps a coarsening-upward succession that starts with the Olentangy Shale, followed by the Ohio Shale, the Bedford Shale, and the Berea Sandstone. The Ohio Shale and Bedford Shale are Famennian in age (= upper Upper Devonian). Traditionally, the Bedford and the Berea have been considered as Lower Mississippian. The Berea is now known to be Famennian (~latest Devonian), based on palynomorph microfossils. The Devonian-Mississippian boundary may lie within the Berea Sandstone. A Kinderhookian-aged conulariid has been found in the basal part of the overlying Sunbury Shale.

The Berea Sandstone has been quarried as building stone in northeastern Ohio.

Stratigraphy: Berea Sandstone, upper Famennian Stage to lower Kinderhookian Stage (?), upper Upper Devonian to lower Lower Mississippian (?)

Locality: loose slab along Ripple Rock Creek, Blendon Woods Park, Columbus, northeastern Franklin County, central Ohio, USA
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Source Trace fossils (Berea Sandstone, Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian; Blendon Woods Park, Columbus, Ohio, USA)
Author James St. John

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This image was originally posted to Flickr by James St. John at https://flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/35455655570 (archive). It was reviewed on 7 December 2019 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

7 December 2019

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current19:04, 7 December 2019Thumbnail for version as of 19:04, 7 December 20194,000 × 3,000 (3.85 MB)Ser Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons

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