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Trace fossils

It's not only the actual bodily remains of dead animals and plants that can become fossils. Things created or left behind by animals can also fossilise, such as their footprints, burrows and dung. These are known as trace fossils. They can often give clues as to the behaviour of the creature that made them, assuming it can be identified. Even non-living things can fossilise, such as the ripples on the seabed. On rare occasions, the remains of lightning strikes have been found - the sand fused into strange shapes by the energy of the lightning bolt.

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Fossil hunting

Palaeontologist looking at a fossil of a ammonite that he has found among rocks on a sea shore. Fossil hunting is enjoyed by amateurs and professionals alike. In fact, palaeontology is one of the few sciences where amateurs have made - and continue to make - important new discoveries.

When these fossils formed

About

Trace fossils, also called ichnofossils (sg. pron.: /ˈɪknoʊfɒsɨl/; Greek: ιχνος ikhnos "trace, track"), are geological records of biological activity. Trace fossils may be impressions made on the substrate by an organism: for example, burrows, borings (bioerosion), urolites (erosion caused by evacuation of liquid wastes), footprints and feeding marks, and root cavities. The term in its broadest sense also includes the remains of other organic material produced by an organism — for example coprolites (fossilized droppings) or chemical markers — or sedimentological structures produced by biological means - for example, stromatolites. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, which are the fossilized remains of parts of organisms' bodies, usually altered by later chemical activity or mineralization.

Sedimentary structures, for example those produced by empty shells rolling along the sea floor, are not produced through the behaviour of an organism and not considered trace fossils.

The study of traces is called ichnology, which is divided into paleoichnology, or the study of trace fossils, and neoichnology, the study of modern traces. This science is challenging, as most traces reflect the behaviour — not the biological affinity — of their makers. As such, trace fossils are categorised into form genera, based upon their appearance and the implied behaviour of their makers.

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Fossil types

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