Zoogeography and Paleontology Practical
Practical 3
STUDY OF TRACE FOSSILS (MOULD, CAST, IMPRINTS, FOOT
PRINTS, PSEUDOMORPHS, COPROLITE)
A) Burrows and Boring
Burrows are the remains of burrows, holes or tunnels dug into the ground or seafloor - by
animals to make a space suitable for dwelling, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of
locomotion preserved in the rock record. It usually reflects soft substrate.
Borings are the remains of holes on the shell surface, which may lead down into simple
pouches or tubes, or into complex systems that branch and ramify within the thickness of the
shell. They were mostly dug for protection by other animals in the hard substrate by abrasive
or chemical actions.
(a) Burrows (b) Boring
B) Mould and Cast
A mould is formed when any remain of the organism is entirely dissolved by the action of
slowly moving underground water may dissolve, leaving only a hollow space, or mould, that
faithfully reflects the shape and surface markings but gives no hint of the internal structure. If
the mould shows the outside, it is an external mould; if it shows the inside, it is an internal
mould.
A cast is formed when mould or hollow spaces are filled with mineral matter, casts of the
original objects may be created, but again, no cellular structure is preserved. The material that
fills the hollow spaces may be somewhat different from the material of the matrix, or
surrounding rock, because it has been brought in by solutions at a later time.
Natural casts and moulds make up a very large proportion of the fossils that are found in
sandstones and limestones. The famous fossils of insects preserved in amber are in fact natural
moulds. The outlines are hollow; all that remain of the insects are films of the body covering
or wings and other appendages.
A fossil that truly preserves the original shape and markings but not the internal structure may
be termed a natural replica. Artificial replicas may be made by filling a natural mould with
wax, clay, or plaster.
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Cast Mould
C) Imprints and Footprints
Imprints are the outline of an organism or its body part/s that has been left behind in a rock. It
is also known as an impression fossil or fossilized impression. An imprint fossil doesn't contain
organic material; hence, an imprint is a type of trace fossil. An organism creates an impression
into a soft surface. If that surface eventually hardens, and that imprint becomes a fossil.
Footprints, also known as ichnites, are actually imprints but these are formed by the activity
of the animals with feet on soft sediments. Footprints indicate the size of foot, length of limbs
and type of gait. Footprint of dinosaurs is preserved in U.S.A.
Imprints Footprints
D) Tracks and Trails
Tracks are the impressions of animal body parts on mud/sand during travel, while trails are
the impressions of animal bodies during crawling (e.g., earthworm). Tracks indicate if the
animals are bipedal or tetrapedal and whether they move by jumping, crawling, agile,
ponderous, or running.
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Tracks Trails
E) Coprolite
A coprolite is the fossilized fecal material. The fecal material becomes
fossilized due to the presence of the organic material in the feces and
only those that become buried in suitable condition for fossilization.
F) Gastroliths
These are small rounded smooth stones present in rib-cages of
dinosaurs. These were used for crushing the food. They are also
considered as trace fossils.
Coprolite
G) Pseudomorphs
In geology, a pseudomorph is a mineral or mineral
compound that appears in an atypical form due to a
substitution process where the original mineral is
replaced by another, while the appearance and
dimensions remain constant. Fossils can form
through pseudomorphic replacement of remains by
mineral matter, with examples including petrified
wood and pyritized gastropod shells.
