Invertebrate trace fossils from the Alveley Member, Salop Formation (Pennsylvanian, Carboniferous), Shropshire, UK

Abstract

The late Carboniferous-early Permian was a period of major environmental change, with the rainforests that covered the equatorial zone during the Carboniferous disappearing due to increasing aridification. This environmental transition had significant impacts on the terrestrial biota, including a major extinction event among plant and vertebrate groups. A rich and unique ichnofauna from the Alveley Member (Moscovian: Westphalian D) of the Salop Formation at Alveley in Shropshire

The Late Carboniferous was a crucial interval for the establishment of terrestrial ecosystems. A dramatic change in tetrapod distribution and ecology is coupled with an ongoing transition from amphibian to amniote domination. Presented here is a new set of tetrapod footprints from a single slab discovered on the island of Bjørnøya in the Norwegian High Arctic. A three-dimensional photogrammetric model was constructed to allow analysis of the trackway, and palaeoenvironmental observations were taken to prov

“…This agrees with the review from Mørk et al (2014), based on the original work in Worsley et al (2001), who suggested that the Kapp Hanna Formation is formed by floodplain and valley-fill deposits due to rivers draining to the northwest, as the island was tilted up in the east at this time. Similar facies have previously been interpreted as formed in a floodplain environment with a persistently high water table (Tucker & Smith, 2004;Hedge et al, 2018). of 17 Without better age constraint on the Kapp Hanna Formation, its context regarding the Carboniferous rainforest collapse remains uncertain given that well-drained, seasonally dry environments were common even in the pre-collapse Pennsylvanian wetlands of the so-called coal age (DiMichele et al, 2010).…”

A eurypterid trackway from the Middle Ordovician of New York State

“…Protichnites gallowayi is most similar to trackways assigned to the ichnogenus Palmichnium , in its external width, wide medial impression, morphology and proportions of the tracks, and their arrangement as series. Palmichnium comprises Palmichnium palmatum , the type ichnospecies, made by a eurypterid using a subaerial flop-type maneuver, leaving coxal imprints; Palmichnium antarcticum (Gevers et al, 1971; Hedge et al, 2019), made by stylonurids; Palmichnium capensis (Anderson, 1975), made by an onychopterellan using a subaqueous hop-type maneuver (Braddy and Almond, 1999); Palmichnium stoermeri Briggs and Rolfe, 1983, made by a mixopterid, with a staggered symmetry; Palmichnium kosinskiorum , made by a hibbertopterid; Palmichnium macdonaldi Braddy, 1995, made by a swimming adelophthalmid; and Palmichnium pottsae Braddy and Anderson, 1996, made by a walking adelophthalmid with an irregular symmetry (Poschmann and Braddy, 2010). Palmichnium culmicum Pfeiffer, 1968 lacks tracks and therefore should be excluded.…”