trace fossils
Ancient behavior evidence
Trace fossils are preserved evidence of ancient organisms' activity rather than their actual remains.
These include footprints, burrows, feeding marks, and coprolites (fossilized dung).
While body fossils show what creatures looked like, trace fossils reveal how they behaved—how they moved, fed, or rested: The trace fossils showed dinosaurs traveling in herds.
Animal-dug underground shelters
- trackwaysPreserved movement traces
- coprolitesFossilized animal excrement
- footprintsMarks left by walking
- boringsMaterial from drilling
Study of geological deposits
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- paleoecologyStudy of prehistoric ecosystems
- substrateUnderlying supporting material
- paleobiologyStudy of ancient organisms
Effect on the mind
- imprintMark from applied pressure
- indentationInward cut or setback
- markVisible impression or sign
- trackPath or monitored route
trail · preservation · cast · mold · outline · pattern · groove · depression
burrows
Animal-dug underground shelters
- trackwaysPreserved movement traces
- coprolitesFossilized animal excrement
- footprintsMarks left by walking
sedimentology
Study of geological deposits
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- paleoecologyStudy of prehistoric ecosystems
- substrateUnderlying supporting material
impression
Effect on the mind
- imprintMark from applied pressure
- indentationInward cut or setback
- markVisible impression or sign
track · trail · preservation · cast · mold · outline · pattern · groove · depression · remnant
locomotion
Ability to travel independently
grazing · resting · nesting · hunting · scavenging · crawling · swimming · walking · dwelling · escaping
- fossilsdinosaur bones, ammonite, amber, ammonites, brachiopod
- paleontologydinosaurs, paleontology, dinosaur bones, mammoth, dinosaur
- fossil footprintsdinosaur tracks, dinosaur footprints, ancient footprints, trackways
- organic remainsbone, bones, carcass, carcasses, carrion
- Sedimentologygrain size, porosity, permeability, bedding, stratification
- fossilizationfossilization, petrification, mineralization, carbonization, cast