XI International Ichnofabric Workshop

Abstract Book of the XI International Ichnofabric Workshop

ISBN 978-84-694-4066-7
AS-3235-11
Editorial work and designer: Laura Piñuela
Printed by: Servitec, Doctor Fleming 3, 3005 Oviedo
 Abstract Book of the
XI International Ichnofabric Workshop

Francisco Javier Rodríguez-Tovar

& José Carlos García-Ramos

(Eds)

Museo del Jurásico de Asturias (MUJA)

Colunga, Spain, 1st-5th July 2011
 XI International Ichnofabric Workshop

Organizing committee

Convenors
F.J. Rodríguez-Tovar (University of Granada)
J.C. García-Ramos (MUJA & University of Oviedo)

Vocals
Laura Piñuela & José Ignacio Ruiz-Omeñaca
MUJA & University of Oviedo

Field Trip Leaders

F.J. Rodríguez-Tovar, J.C. García-Ramos & L. Piñuela

Sponsor

Regional Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Government of Principality of

Asturias)

Colaborating institutions

University of Oviedo
University of Granada
Fundación para el Fomento en Asturias de la Investigación Científica
Aplicada y la Tecnología (FICYT)
CajAstur
Recrea Asturias
Colunga Town Council
Fundación José Cardín Fernández
Dinokinétics
Camping Costa Verde
Restaurant La Cabaña del Mar
Bar La Cueva de Dino
Asociación Colunguesa de Turismo (ACOTUR)
 Organizers

Department and Faculty of Geology Department of Stratigraphy

University of Oviedo and Palaeontology
University of Granada

Sponsor

Colaborating institutions

University of Oviedo University of Granada

Colunga Town Council

Table of contents
Invited talks 1
Buatois, L.A. & Mángano, M.G. 3
A short history of bioturbation: The interplay between ecospace colonization,
the evolution of the mixed layer and mass extinctions

Wetzel, A. 8
Environmental dynamics along modern continental margins help to unravel the
bathyal ichnological record

Oral presentations 9
Árpád D., Marton, E. & Fodor, R. 11
Bioturbation of a Late Oligocene regressive series (Wind Brickyard, Eger, Hungary)

Baucon, A. , Felletti, F. & Muttoni, G. 13

Geographic Information Systems for ichnofabric analysis: modelling a modern
lagoon (Grado, Italy) with the IchnoGIS method

Bednarz, M. & McIlroy, D. 20

Effect of phycosiphoniform burrows on shale gas reservoir quality

Belaústegui, Z. & Gibert, J.M. de 21

Ichnofabrics in the Miocene shallow marine Camp de Tarragona basin (NE Spain):
preliminary data

Bradshaw, M.A. 23
Heimdallia and Beaconites – enigmatic burrows in Antarctic Devonian sediments

Curran H.A. & Seike, K. 27

Comparing modern and fossil tropical callianassid burrows in the Bahamas: trials,
tribulations, and some successes

Ekdale, A.A. 31
Ichnofabric and diagenesis: Enemy combatants or partners in crime?

Fodor, R. 33
Bioturbation in shallow marine Early Miocene siliciclastic succession
(Diósgyőr, Hungary)

Gibert, J.M. de, Mas, G. & Ekdale A.A. 34

A double-helix trace fossil and associated ichnofabrics from the Miocene of
Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain

Harding, S.C. & Ekdale, A.A. 36

Ichnofabric of a pelletal greensand in a transgressive systems tract,
Middle Eocene, Texas, USA
Hemanta, R. & Ibotombi, S. 40
Trace Fossils and Ichnofabrics of the Late Eocene-Early Oligocene Laisong Marginal
Marine Flysch Basin of Manipur, Indo-Myanmar Ranges, North East India

Herringshaw, L.G. & McIlroy, D. 44

Bioirrigation in the ichnological record

Izumi, K., Miyaji, T. & Tanabe, K. 45

Response of marine benthic organisms to the early Toarcian (Early Jurassic)
oceanic anoxic event: Evidence from sedimentary fabrics and ichnofabrics of the
Nishinakayama Formation in Toyora area, west Japan

Knaust, D. 47
Ichnofabric analysis in deep-sea deposits based on well cores

Leaman, M.K., McIlroy, D. & Boyd, C.J.T. 50

What does Ophiomorpha irregulaire really look like?

Lehane, J.R. & Ekdale, A.A. 52

Internet databases in ichnology: The benefits and need for a dynamic Universal
Ichnological Database

Löwemark, L. 56
Variations in trace fossils and bioturbation in Arctic Ocean sediments
with a focus on Zoophycos

Mángano, M.G. & Buatois, L.A. 57

Was early Paleozoic infaunalization a diachronic process?

McIlroy, D. & Herringshaw, L.G. 62

Ethology and Ichnofabrics

Mikuláš, R. & Cílek, V. 63

Ichnology in the archaeological context of Abusir, ancient Egypt

Nara, M. & Ikari, Y. 67

An ethological interpretation of branched Protovirgularia: A story of
“bivalvian highway”
68
Netto, R.G., Tognoli, F.M.W. & Assine, M.L.
Crowded Rosselia ichnofabric in Lower Devonian rocks

Pervesler, P., Hohenegger, J. & Uchman, A. 72

Environmental changes and their interpretation through the ichnological record.
Approaches in the sections Baden Sooss (Badenian) and Stirone river
(Gelasian, Calabrian)

Qi Yongan, Xing Zhifeng, Zheng Wei & Yuan Yuyang 78

Study on Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures (MISS) from the
Mesoproterozoic Yunmengshan Formation in Western Henan Province

Romano, M. & Whyte, M.A. 80

Vertebrate ichnofabrics of the Middle Jurassic of Yorkshire, UK
Scott, J.J., Acorn, J.H., Gingras, M.K., & Pemberton, S.G. 86
High-density Skolithos in non-marine to marginal-marine settings:
a neoichnological view

Seike, K. & Curran H.A. 90

A comparison of burrows of the land crab Gecarcinus lateralis,
and the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata, in The Bahamas

Song Huibo & Hu Bin 93

Ichnofabric in Carbonates of the Lower Permian Taiyuan Formation,
Western Henan, Central China

Tarhan, L.G. & Droser, M.L. 96

Cambrian ichnofabrics in fine-grained siliciclastic strata of the Great Basin
(Utah and Nevada), Western USA

Tonkin, N.S. & McIlroy, D. 98

Sediment mixers, packers and pipe-work builders – their application
to reservoir characterization

Uchman, A., Jach, R. & Machaniec, E. 99

Trace fossil Nummipera eocenica Hölder, 1989, a characteristic component of
ichnofabric in Eocene nummulitic limestones

Wetzel, A., Tjallingii, R. & Wiesner, M.G. 100

Ichnofabrics record environmental changes in the upwelling area off Vietnam
for the last 150,000 years (South China Sea)

Whyte, M.A. & Romano, M. 104

Lockeia-related ichnofabrics in the Middle Jurassic of Yorkshire, UK

Zhang, L.-J., Shi, G.R., Gong, Y.-M. & Luo, G.-M. 108
Bioclock-symbiotic model: evidences from morphology, isotopes and biomarkers
of the Permian Zoophycos in South China and South-eastern Australia

Poster presentations 111

Baucon, A., Belvedere, M., Furin, S., Felletti, F. & Muttoni, G. 113
Sharing ichnofabrics: theory, design and implementation of an open-access
ichnological database (ICHNOBASE)

Baucon, A., Grant, P.S., Felletti, F. & Muttoni, G. 115

Towards an open-source software for ichnological analysis

Bednarz, M. & McIlroy, D. 117

Three-dimensional reconstructions of ichnofabric in fine grained sediments
and assessment of the morphological diversity of phycosiphoniform burrows

Callow, R.H.T., McIlroy, D., Kneller, B. & Dykstra, M. 118

The Application of Ichnological Analysis to the Facies Characterization of
Channel-Turbidite Systems: The Rosario Formation, Baja California, Mexico
Citton, P., Sacchi, E. & Nicosia, U. 119
Sometimes they come back. The return to light of a special specimen

Demircan, H., Bilgin, A.Z. & Uğuz, F. 121

Trace fossıls ın the mıddle Eocene Yamak turbıdıte complex of the Haymana Basın,
Central Anatolıa, Turkey

Dentzien-Dias, P.C. & Figueiredo, A.E.Q. 122

Ctenomys sp. burrows in eolian sand dunes, a valuable tool in the recognition of
fossil vertebrate burrows

Doucek, J. & Mikuláš, R. 126

Zoophycos as the main component of the Cambrian ichnofabric
(Železné hory Mountains, Czech Republic)

Ekdale, A.A. & Harding S.C. 129

Ichnologic significance of the Upper Cretaceous trace fossil Cylindrichnus
concentricus Toots 1962 in its type locality, Southern Wyoming, USA

Gámez Vintaned, J.A. & Carls, P. 131

Rusophycus petraeus from the late Dobrotivian (Middle-Upper Ordovician interval)
of the Cadena Ibérica Oriental (NE Spain)

Giannetti, A., Monaco, P., Corbí, H. & Soria, J.M. 136

Ophiomorpha nodosa ichnofabric: an exceptional example from a Messinian
siliciclastic platform (Venta de la Virgen section, Bajo Segura Basin, Spain)

Good, T.R. & Ekdale, A.A. 140

Trace fossil associations and ichnofabrics in a Jurassic Eolianite,
Nugget Sandstone, Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, USA

Hu Bin, Wang Yuanyuan & Song Huibo 143

Neoichnologic research in modern fluvial deposits of the
middle-lower Yellow River (Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, China)

Lindqvist, J.K. 145

Outcrop expressions of Ophiomorpha irregulaire and associated trace fossils in a
transgressive tidal estuarine – embayment succession: Whakapohai Formation,
Late Cretaceous, South Westland Basin, New Zealand

Löwemark, L. & Nara M. 150

Morphological variations in the ichnogenus Schaubcylindrichnus as a response to
differing environmental conditions

Mešķis, S. 151
Trace fossil assemblages from Frasnian (Upper Devonian) deposits in Latvia

Monaco, P., Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J. & Uchman, A. 153

Interpreting environmental fluctuations during latest Cenomanian
(Bonarelli level) in the Gubbio area (Central Italy) based on ichnofabric approach
Piñuela, L., García-Ramos, J.C. & Ruiz-Omeñaca, J.I. 157
Dinoturbation: a common ichnofabric in the fluvial and deltaic facies of the
Upper Jurassic of Asturias (N Spain)

Index of Attending 163

Index of abstract authors 167

Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J. & García-Ramos, J.C. Eds (2011). Abstract Book of the XI International Ichnofabric Workshop

Rusophycus petraeus from the late Dobrotivian (Middle-Upper Ordovician

interval) of the Cadena Ibérica Oriental (NE Spain)

Gámez Vintaned, J.A. 1 & Carls, P. 2

1. Depto. de Geología, Universitat de València. C/ Dr. Moliner 50, E-46100 Burjassot (Valencia),
Spain
2. Institute of Environmental Geology, Technische Universität Braunschweig. Pockelsstrasse 4,
D-38023 Braunschweig, Germany
j.antonio.gamez@uv.es; gamez@unizar.es

Introduction
The ichnospecies Cruziana petraea Seilacher, 1970 and Rusophycus petraeus (Seilacher, 1970)
(the prevalent rusophyciform expression of the former) are cited in the palaeoichnological literature
from Ordovician rocks (mostly dated as Caradoc) of Jordan, Benin, Libya and Chad (Seilacher,
1970, 2007). Here we report a new finding of Rusophycus petraeus – the first documented out of
the African continent – in rocks dated as late Dobrotivian. This was preliminary reported by Carls
(1975) as “Cruziana sp.”.

Geographic and geological setting

The studied locality (known as La Rebosilla) is located on the southern slope of “cabezo de la
Fuente”, a hill 1.5 km to the SW of the village of Luesma (southern Zaragoza province, NE Spain)
in the heart of the Iberian Mountains. From a geological point of view, La Rebosilla lies in the
Cadena Ibérica Oriental (a chain built up of rocks ranging from upper Neoproterozoic to Permian
in age), in the central sector of the Herrera Unit.

Lithostratigraphy and environmental setting

In the Cadena Ibérica Oriental, the Middle (to lowermost Upper) Ordovician Castillejo
Formation rests paraconformably above the Armorican Quartzite, a reference stratigraphic unit in
the region. The trace fossils studied herein come from the uppermost beds of the Sierra Member
of the Castillejo Formation. According to Carls (1975) and Villas (1985), in the area of Fombuena-
Luesma this formation is 350 m-thick and consists – from bottom to top – of three members:
Marité (a few metres thick), Alpartir (>100 m), and Sierra (>150 m).
The top of the Sierra Member in the area of Luesma (horizon O3q in the terminology of Carls,
1975) is composed of ca. 50 m of grey-brownish, dominantly quartzitic sandstone in beds up to
0.5 m in thickness, to some extent similar to the upper member of the Armorican Quartzite (Carls,
1975). The particular beds bearing the studied rusophyci are located on top of horizon O3q, and are
composed of well sorted, fine-grained (recrystallized) quartzitic sandstone; they are centimetric in
thickness, occasionally with flaser stratification (Fig.1B) and soft pebbles; current ripple, trough
cross lamination and rippled top beds are frequent (Fig.1B); some beds are massive at the bottom
and show trough cross lamination at the top; scour structures (tool and drag marks and casts) and
erosional surfaces are frequent.
Quartzitic sandstones of the horizon O3q are only present between the sector Fombuena-
Luesma and the eastern slope of the Sierra de Herrera. They represent a particular, very shallow
environment undergoing clastic discharge from the “Azuara structure”, placed to the ENE. This
environment must had adequate living conditions for the trilobites, since they met in big number
as evidenced by the ichnological record. The Castillejo Formation is bracketed by two oolitic
ironstone horizons (one each marking a stratigraphic lacuna; the upper one composes the basal

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member of the overlying Fombuena Formation – which rests paraconformably – and spans a part
– not the basal one – of the earliest Late Ordovician or Sandbian). Those oolites needed warm
climatic conditions for its formation, and thus the present ichnofauna originated under warm
temperatures and not in close proximity to the South Pole.

Biostratigraphy and age

In the neighbour section Fombuena 2 (located 1.2 km to the south-west of La Rebosilla), the last
occurrence of the species Heterorthina kerfornei reaches two meters below the top of the Castillejo
Formation (Villas, 1985, 1992). In Central Spain, this species ranges from the late Dobrotivian
to the earlymost Sandbian (Reyes-Abril et al., 2011). On the other hand, clastics underlying the
sandstones of the top of the Sierra Member in a locality 1.5 km to the west of El Poyo del Cid (located
some 35 km from our study locality in Luesma; Cadena Ibérica Occidental; Teruel province),
yielded the graptolite species Oepikograptus bekkeri which indicates the uppermost Dobrotivian
(i.e., the global lower Sandbian Stage, lowermost Upper Ordovician) (Gutiérrez-Marco et al.,
1999; J.C. Gutiérrez-Marco, pers. comm., 2011). Finally, at the top of the basal ooidal ironstone
horizon of the Fombuena Formation (O5), Caradoc brachiopods were described by Villas (1992).
Taking these data into consideration, the specimens of Rusophycus petraeus described herein are
late Dobrotivian in age, which may be equivalent either to the latest Darriwilian (terminal Middle
Ordovician) or to the earliest Sandbian (basal Late Ordovician). This uncertainty in the dating
leads to read with caution the assumption of a Middle Ordovician age for the Iberian occurrence of
“Cruziana petraea” formerly suggested by one of the present authors (in Seilacher, 2007: p. 194).

Palaeoichnology
Description and interpretation of the trace
The studied material consists of several tens of rusophyci preserved as hypichnial casts, in
general equidimensional (4–6 cm in width x 4–7,5 cm in length), with steep-sided lobes. In most
cases, the axis of the trace run straight, but it is slightly curved in some cases. Specimens appear
in great density, often everlapping (Fig.1A) or running parallel.
Some of the rusophyci are in ontogenetic connection with a cruzianiform segment showing
anastomosing, longitudinal ornamentation and a wide median furrow (Fig.1J). Such transitional
forms of R. petraeus were not illustrated in the previous literature. Moreover, cruzianiform
segments connected to R. petraeus differ from the drawing of Cruziana petraea (ribbon forms)
figured by Seilacher (1970). Nevertheless, the latter ribbon forms are also present among our
collected samples, but as isolated ones.
Endopodal scratch marks are organised into sets of three to five. Sets may be distinctly separated
resulting in two distinct regions (front and rear; Fig.1C,D,F). On two specimens, the scratch marks
of the left lobe pass into the right one without interruption (Fig.1E).
Retroverse endopodal scratches (slightly proverse on the front part of a few specimens; Fig.1D)
are rather blunt and in general almost smooth since, due to preservational biass by the grain size
and recrystallization, claw marks are poorly preserved. When faint claw marks are visible, they
are found in a number of three to four and are subequal, blunt, somewhat knobby and of very low
relief (Fig.1I). As in other occurrences of this ichnospecies, claw marks ornamenting the bigger
endopodal scratches tend to concentrate on the posterior half of the latter (Fig.1I). The profile of
the endopodal marks is usually symmetric, but the front or rear slope of the scratch can be steeper
in different specimens (Fig.1H). A faint and dense, transverse striation may ornament some of the
endopodal scratches (Fig.1I,H).
Some specimens show a strongly asymmetric transverse profile, not in terms of lobe depth but
of inclined lateral margins, which are vergent to the same direction (Fig.1F). This indicates that, if
needed, the producer (most likely a trilobite) was able to withdraw the appendages of one side of

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Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J. & García-Ramos, J.C. Eds (2011). Abstract Book of the XI International Ichnofabric Workshop

the body under the dorsal skeleton and to stretch those of the opposite side, while digging intensity
remained the same on both sides. On the other hand, burrow reactivation is commonly observed
(both stationary and dynamic).

Other palaeoichnological contents

Domichnia of several millimetres to one centimetre in cross section are frequent; i.e.
Cylindrichnus, Skolithos and Monocraterion, the former two going through the trilobite burrows
(Fig.1A, arrows). Exichnial Palaeophycus (filled with sand from the upper level) are found in
thin mudstone laminae interbedded with bedding planes where the trilobite burrows occur, while
planolitids tend to be located near the rusophyci medial axis. Bifungites and small-size, retrusive
Teichichnus are also found.

Conclusions
According to the data presented herein:
– Beyond their known occurrences in Upper Ordovician rocks from Africa (generally published
under the synonym Cruziana petraea Seilacher, 1970), the lowest biostratigraphic range of
Rusophycus petraeus (Seilacher, 1970) is placed at a late Dobrotivian age, which may be equivalent
either to the latest Darriwilian (terminal Middle Ordovician) or to the earliest Sandbian (basal Late
Ordovician).
– The number of longitudinal claw marks found on each endopodal scratch mark of our material
of Rusophycus petraeus is three to four, and thus the diagnosis of this ichnospecies should perhaps
be slightly re-evaluated.
– The occasional existence of faint and dense, transverse striation on the endopodal scratch
marks is pointed out to complete the morphological characterisation of this ichnotaxon.

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Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J. & García-Ramos, J.C. Eds (2011). Abstract Book of the XI International Ichnofabric Workshop

Figure 1. (A) Several superimposed specimens (MPZ 2011/73 - MPZ 2011/77) of Rusophycus petraeus (Seilacher,
1970). Skolithos going through the trilobite burrows are observed (arrows). (B,G) Specimen MPZ 2011/66. Right side
and bottom views, respectively. (C, F) MPZ 2011/67. Bottom and rear views, respectively. (D) MPZ 2011/68. (E)
MPZ 2011/69. (H) MPZ 2011/70. Side view. (I) MPZ 2011/71. Side view. (J) MPZ 2011/72. Material deposited in the
Museo Paleontológico de la Universidad de Zaragoza. Scale bar = 1 cm. (D,E,H,I) specimens coated with ammonium
chloride. (A-C,F,G,J) uncoated. Further explanations in the text.

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Acknowledgements
We thank sincerely the organisers of the XI International Ichnofabric Workshop their efforts, and Dr. J. C. Gutiérrez-
Marco (Madrid) and Dr. E. Villas (Zaragoza) for useful comments on the biostratigraphy. JAGV received financial
support from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain (“Juan de la Cierva” contract, ref. JCI-2009-05319).
This is a contribution to the projects: Consolider CGL2006–12975/BTE (“MURERO”; Ministerio de Educación y
Ciencia-FEDER–EU, Spain), Grupo Consolidado E–17 (“Patrimonio y Museo Paleontológico”; Gobierno de Aragón),
and IGCP 597 (“Amalgamation and Breakup of Pangæa: the type example of the supercontinent”) (IUGS-UNESCO).

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