palaeoichnology
A gallery of trace fossils from the Silurian of Sardinia The word pun of the title refers to the fossil tunnels preserved in the Genna Muxerru Formation. They have been produced 440 million years ago by unknown organisms within a muddy seafloor. To know more,…
Read MoreBlack shales are dark, fine-grained rocks that conjure up with images of lifeless seafloors. In fact, they usually originate as muds deposited in low-oxygen seafloors. As such, they are expected to be devoid of life... but there is a burrow in this 440-million-years-old black shale…
Read MoreThe iconic fossil Chondrites is broadly seaweed-shaped, and is one of the most common—and historically important—fossil burrows. What animal produced such a complex burrow, and why? I tried to answer this question by assembling a team of 16 researchers from different disciplines. The results have…
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