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Ichnofacies

Trace fossil

An ichnofacies is an assemblage of trace fossils that provides an indication of the conditions that their formative organisms inhabited.

Concept

Trace fossil assemblages are far from random; the range of fossils recorded in association is constrained by the environment in which the trace-making organisms dwelt. Palaeontologist Adolf Seilacher pioneered the concept of ichnofacies, whereby the state of a sedimentary system at its time of deposition could be deduced by noting the trace fossils in association with one another.{{cite journal

Significance

Ichnofacies can provide information about water depth, salinity, turbidity and energy. In general, traces found in shallower water are vertical, those in deeper water are more horizontal and patterned. This is partly because of the relative abundance of suspended food particles, such as plankton, in the shallower waters of the photic zone, and partly because vertical burrows are more secure in the turbulent conditions of shallow water. In deeper waters, there is a necessary transition to sediment feeding (extracting nutrients from the mud). Food availability, hence trace type, is also controlled by energy: high energy environments keep food particles suspended, whereas in lower energy areas, food settles out evenly, and burrows will tend to spread out to cover as much area as economically as possible.

Ichnofacies have a major advantage over using body fossils to gauge the same factors: body fossils can be transported, but trace fossils are always in situ.

Recognized invertebrate ichnofacies

Marine Invertebrate Ichnofacies{{cite book	Name	Common Ichnogenera	Substrate	Inferred Paleoenvironment
last1=Benton	first1=M.J.	author-link = Michael Benton	last2=Harper	first2=D.A.T.
Scoyenia	Skolithos, Cruziana, Diplichnites, Rusophycus{{cite journal	year = 1990	title = Trace fossils as paleoenvironmental indicators in the Taylor Group (Devonian) of Antarctica	journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology	volume = 80	issue = 3–4	pages = 301–310	doi = 10.1016/0031-0182(90)90139-X}}	Variable - typically sandstones; red beds may be nearby	Diagnostic of terrestrial/freshwater facies.
title = The Psilonichnus ichnocoenose, and its relationship to adjacent marine and nonmarine ichnocoenoses along the Georgia coast	last1 = Frey	first1 = Robert W.	date = 1987	journal = Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology	last2 = Pemberton	first2 = S. George	issue = 35}}	Psilonichnus, Coenobichnus, Cellicalichnus, Macanopsis	Highly variable grain size, sand, soft substrate	Coastal barrier islands, strand plains, delta plains, estuaries, lagoons, and bays.
title = Uniformity in marine invertebrate ichnology	last1 = Frey	first1 = R. W.	date = 1980	journal = Lethaia	doi =10.1111/j.1502-3931.1980.tb00632.x	last2 = Seilacher	first2 = Adolf	volume = 13	issue=3	pages = 183–207}}	Entobia, Trypanites, Gastrochaenolites, Caulostrepsis, Maeandropolydora, Conchotrema	Hardground, endurated substrates	Coastal cliffs, reefs, beachrock
Teredolites	Teredolites, Thalassinoides	title = Ichnology and sedimentology of shallow to marginal marine systems	last1 = Pemberton	first1 = S. George	date = 2001	journal = Geological Association of Canada Short Course Notes	issue = 228	pages = 29–62	last2 = Spila	first2 = M.	others = Pulham, A.J., Saunders, T., MacEachern, J.A., Robbins, D., and Sinclair, I.K.}}	Driftwood, peat
Glossifungites	title = Ichnology: Organism-Substrate Interactions in Space and Time	last1 = Buatois	first1 = Luis	publisher = Cambridge University Press	year = 2011	isbn = 978-0-521-85555-6	location = New York	pages = 67–69	last2 = Mangano	first2 = M. Gabriela}}	Firmground, dewatered muds	Shallow, marginal marine, deltaic or estuarine erosion surfaces.
Skolithos	Skolithos, Ophiomorpha, Arenicolites, Diplocraterion	Unconsolidated littoral sands	Beaches and sandy tidal flats, shallow water, foreshore to upper-shoreface, above wavebase
Cruziana	Arthrophycus, Phycodes, Rhizocorallium, Teichichnus, Arenicolites, Rosselia, Bergaueria, Thalassinoides, Lockeia, Protovirgularia, Curvolithus, Dimorphichnus, Cruziana, Rusophycus	Sand and silt heterolithic successions and organic detritus	Mid to distal continental shelves. Below normal wave base, but not necessarily below storm wave base
Zoophycos	Zoophycos, Phycosiphon, Chondrites	Marine softground, impure sands and silts	Deeper water, bottom of shelf; turbidite facies
Nereites	Nereites, Megagrapton, Protopaleodictyon, Spirophycus, Helminthoraphe, Glockerichnus, Spiroraphe, Cosmoraphe, Urohelminthoida, Desmograpton, Paleodictyon, Scolicia	Fine-grained muds and clays interbedded with turbidite silts	Deep water, pelagic, base-of-slope turbidity systems

Recognized vertebrate ichnofacies

Charirichnium

Vertebrate Ichnofacies
Name
Chelichnus (Laoporus)
Grallator
Brontopodus
Batrachichnus
Characichnos

References

"Ichnofacies". UCL.
(1987). "The Psilonichnus ichnocoenose, and its relationship to adjacent marine and nonmarine ichnocoenoses along the Georgia coast". Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology.
(1980). "Uniformity in marine invertebrate ichnology". Lethaia.
"Facies Models".
(1984). "A Cretaceous woodground: the Teredolites ichnofacies". Journal of Paleontology.
(2004). "Modern perspectives on the Teredolites ichnofacies: observations from Willapa Bay, Washington". PALAIOS.
(2001). "Ichnology and sedimentology of shallow to marginal marine systems". Geological Association of Canada Short Course Notes.
(2011). "Ichnology: Organism-Substrate Interactions in Space and Time". Cambridge University Press.
Lockley, M.G., Hunt, A.P., and Meyer, C.A., 1994. Vertebrate tracks and the ichnofacies concept: Implications for palaeoecology and palichnostratigraphy. In ''The Palaeobiology of Trace Fossils'', ed. S.K. Donovan, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, p. 241-268.
(2007). "Tetrapod ichnofacies: a new paradigm". Ichnos.

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