Show your trace!

[MeargleSchmeargl]

What tracks have you found left on slabs of ancient sea/forest floor? Show-off here!

 

My Crustacean burrow from Stratford Hall's Calvert exposures (SH being Robert E. Lee's home, so you get a mix of prehistory and history):

 

Entrance:

 

 

And the tunnel into the ancient seabed: 

 

[Ludwigia]

Gyrochorte comosa (Hantzschel 1962). The plate measures 15x15x2cm. There is a layer full of these in southwest Germany which is even used as a marker horizon. It is assumed that these tracks, the socalled "Zopfspuren", were left behind by worms. Middle Jurassic early Aalenian Opalinuston Formation.

 

 

[Wrangellian]

Picked this one up at a spot not far from home (Upper Cretaceous).. and it's not the biggest piece I got from there.

Not sure what I'll do with it - the museum will probably not accept it, and it takes up a fair bit of room for my indoor collection...

 

[Auspex]

Green River Eocene plate with bird tracks and "nibble mark" feeding traces.

The nibble mark impressions indicate a spatulate bill, as possessed by the well-known Presbyornis pervetus, but the tracks are un-webbed, so this is a different and unknown species.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

NSR Ozan fm “trace”.

[piranha]

Asterosoma radiciforme

Pennsylvanian, Breathitt Fm. 

Rockcastle County, Kentucky

 

[Kane]

Phycodes ottawense. 

Ordovician

Verulam Fm

Brechin, ON Canada

[snolly50]

Here is an image I previously posted to the Forum in a fossil photo contest.

 

A slab of Coconino sandstone containing multiple examples of two Permian ichnogenera. Can you spot the babies, following their parents? This is one of my favorite pieces.

 

 

 

[Nimravis]

Here are a couple of mine:

 

 

Fossil Bird Tracks

Green River Formation 

Eocene

Near Wamsutter, Wyoming

 

 

 

Fossil Bird Tracks

Green River Formation

Eocene

Utah

 

 

 

Arthropod Trackways

Mt. Simon Complex

Blackberry Hill Deposit

Cambrian

Central Wisconsin

 

 

 

 

Fossil Ripple Marks

Morrison Formation

Upper Jurassic

Near Sundance, Wyoming

 

 

 

 

Rodent gnaw marks on top of an Oreodont skull

Oligocene

South Dakota

 

 

Laoporus Reptile Tracks

Coconino Formation

Permian

Coconino County, Arizona

 

 

 

Acquired from my Fossil Mentor- a small piece of matrix containing Reptile tracks.

Robledo Mountains

Permian

New Mexico

 

[Nimravis]

Here are a couple large plates that I also acquired from my Fossil Mentor- they were given to him by the author of this article and the discoverer of these plates (Richard Patterson).

 

Fossil Reptile Trackways

Upper Pennsylvanian

Monongahela Formation

SE Ohio

 

[caldigger]

1 hour ago, snolly50 said:

Here is an image I previously posted to the Forum in a fossil photo contest.

 

A slab of Coconino sandstone containing multiple examples of two Permian ichnogenera. Can you spot the babies, following their parents? This is one of my favorite pieces.

 

 

 

Looks more like you made a wet plaster slab and let your Chihuahua run across it a couple of times.

[snolly50]

52 minutes ago, caldigger said:

Looks more like you made a wet plaster slab and let your Chihuahua run across it a couple of times.

LOL, yes it does. That's one of the things that impresses me about the trackways found in this formation - impossibly old, yet look as if they could have been made yesterday.

[Bobby Rico]

It is not easy following in the foot steps of the incredible ichnofossils that are included in this post. 

 

A Grallator foot pint from France and an Ornithopod footcast  Wealden, Sussex UK

 

[JohnBrewer]

3 hours ago, snolly50 said:

Here is an image I previously posted to the Forum in a fossil photo contest.

 

A slab of Coconino sandstone containing multiple examples of two Permian ichnogenera. Can you spot the babies, following their parents? This is one of my favorite pieces.

 

 

 

Stunning John. 

[JohnBrewer]

1 hour ago, Bobby Rico said:

It is not easy following in the foot steps of the incredible ichnofossils that are included in this post. 

 

A Grallator foot pint from France and an Ornithopod footcast  Wealden, Sussex UK

 

And I’ve got the right footprint as you know!

[Bobby Rico]

20 minutes ago, JohnBrewer said:

And I’ve got the right footprint as you know!

Post it here John. 

[snolly50]

Here are two other slabs also from the Coconino sandstone. 

 

This piece displays tracks on two different levels. It's a thick slab, and off and on I've toyed with the idea of additional splitting. However, the nicest tracks currently visible are on a layer only 1/4" thick; so I've decided it's not worth the risk of losing them.

 

 

Here is a close-up of the same slab. Careful examination will reveal small "insect" tracks in addition to the larger ones left by mammal-like reptiles.

 

 

This slab shows deeply impressed prints with less fine detail. However, in addition to the reptile walkers this ancient ground was also trod by a large invertebrate. As I recall, likened to a modern day scorpion. Close examination of that trackway will reveal the small prints with their characteristic, side by side, "two-clawed" impressions.

 

 

[EMP]

Here are a couple of mine: 

 

Tetrapod footprints

Early Mississippian, 350 million years old

Pocono Group

 

 

[Malone]

On 3/28/2018 at 1:40 AM, Wrangellian said:

Picked this one up at a spot not far from home (Upper Cretaceous).. and it's not the biggest piece I got from there.

Not sure what I'll do with it - the museum will probably not accept it, and it takes up a fair bit of room for my indoor collection...

 

What is this Cretaceous piece ?

[Wrangellian]

50 minutes ago, Malone said:

What is this Cretaceous piece ?

I don't know, Thalassinoides, I guess? Near-shore mud flats with critter trails/burrows.

[Wrangellian]

On 3/28/2018 at 3:38 PM, snolly50 said:

Here are two other slabs also from the Coconino sandstone. 

 

This piece displays tracks on two different levels. It's a thick slab, and off and on I've toyed with the idea of additional splitting. However, the nicest tracks currently visible are on a layer only 1/4" thick; so I've decided it's not worth the risk of losing them.

...

Here is a close-up of the same slab. Careful examination will reveal small "insect" tracks in addition to the larger ones left by mammal-like reptiles.

...

This slab shows deeply impressed prints with less fine detail. However, in addition to the reptile walkers this ancient ground was also trod by a large invertebrate. As I recall, likened to a modern day scorpion. Close examination of that trackway will reveal the small prints with their characteristic, side by side, "two-clawed" impressions.

...

Nice ones, snolly! I've got a small piece from that formation but it can't hold a candle to yours. How did you acquire those?

Mine is redder too, yours look plain grey. I guess that rock is variable - different locations?

[Malone]

1 minute ago, Wrangellian said:

I don't know, Thalassinoides, I guess? Near-shore mud flats with critter trails/burrows.

It looks like something I found the other day and that was the diagnosis I received . I just wondered if it was same. Thank you for the response!

[Malone]

I wonder how those slabs could stay so pristine during solidification? What the atmosphere was like? What the chemical processes were? Fascinating.

[ynot]

22 minutes ago, Malone said:

I wonder how those slabs could stay so pristine during solidification? What the atmosphere was like? What the chemical processes were? Fascinating.

It all has to do with the pressures and heat applied during lithification.

[snolly50]

26 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

How did you acquire those?

Several years back I had contact with the collector. He revealed that he had a "secret" spot where he was collecting. For a period of a couple of years he consistently had nice trackways for sale. Then he "disappeared" - no email response. I hope he wasn't eaten by coyotes. The first slab I posted with the prints of the young was actually 1/2 of a larger trackway. It was too large to easily transport so he sawed it in half. Unfortunately, he told me the other half was shipped to Australia. It is doubtful the two halves will ever be reunited; but I certainly wish I had both. I find these pieces most intriguing, as they freeze little snips of the creature's behavior.   

 

11 minutes ago, Malone said:

I wonder how those slabs could stay so pristine during solidification?

The Coconino sandstone tracks have been the subject of much speculation. It is commonly held that they were formed in an arid, dune environment. However, considerable ink has been given to the concept they were impressed under water. This research has been seized upon by young earth/great flood proponents to bolster their thesis. 

 

The account of formation, that I recall is something like this. The resident critters roam across the dunes at night - of course, leaving all manner of prints and disturbance of the sand. Hey, no tail drags - these were mammal-like reptiles; who walked with their legs under the body, unlike sprawling reptiles. Then as dawn approached a dense fog would roll in from the sea, settling on the impressed sand. The gentle moisture, unlike rain, would moisten the sand without disturbing the tracks. The result was a hardened crust with sharp preservation. Then with the rising of the sun the winds would start. The sand would begin to move in dune fashion. Soon the moisture hardened tracks on the dune's leeward side would be filled and covered with fresh sand. On and on....