CHAPTER 3
CLASSIFICATION
OF TRACE FOSSILS
SCOTT SIMPSON
Department of Geology, University of Exeter
Exeter, England
SYNOPSIS
Classification is one of the tools of scientific dis-
covery, no less so in the study of trace fossils
than in any other science. Many different kinds
of classification are possible. Simple descriptive
classifications, although better than nothing, are
of very limited value. Trace fossils have three
distinct and significant aspects, to each of which
a unique classification attaches: (1) the preserva-
tional (stratinomic), which treats of the origin
of the fossil in the rocks, (2) the behavioral
(ethological), which treats of the biological func-
tion represented in the fossil, and (3) the phylo-
genetic (taxonomic), which is concerned with
the identity of the organism that produced the
fossil.
Relationships established in the stratinomic
classification are limited in number and are in-
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter we are concerned with the
classification of trace fossils as natural ob-
jects; the discussion deals particularly with
the methods of classification, but also to
some extent with the procedures of nomen-
clature. The approach is philosophic, and
no attempt was made to provide an exhaus-
tive treatment of rigorously defined terms
and concepts. This convention is followed
for two reasons: (1) the whole subject of
trace fossils has been approached so often
via a historical, classificatory route, and (2)
a critical review of specific terms and con-
cepts-representing a consensus among 33
39
© 1975 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
formative mainly about the characteristics of
sedimentation when and where fossilization
took place. The ethological classification is gen-
erally the most appropriate, because it provides
insight into the environment at the time of
formation. The taxonomic classification is of
very limited applicability; phyletic identifica-
tions are possible only in a few cases, mainly
certain tracks or trails.
Agreed nomenclatural procedures, involv-
ing the acceptance of a code for a binomial
system of names related to types, are beset with
difficulties. But if any nomenclature is devised
for international adoption, it should be based
on a classification of trace fossils as the product
of organic behavioral patterns.
ichnologists from 12 countries-has recently
been published (Frey, 1973); most of this
information need not be repeated here.
PRINCIPLES OF ICHNOLOGICAL
CLASSIFICATION
Classification consists in the orderly arrange-
ment of data-the grouping together of
like things and the separation of unlike
things. It is one of the essential activities of
science, whether for its own sake or as a
tool in the discovery of new or unexpected
relations.
Because natural objects are generally
complex and possess many different, vari-
40
able characters, many different kinds of
classification are usually possible. Thus,
human beings may be classified according
to sex, religion, language, kinship, blood
group, and many other characteristics. No
one classification is best-only a most suit-
able one for a particular purpose. However,
some characters are much more profound
or significant than others, generally because
they were imposed at the moment of origin.
These characters are the basis for the genetic
classifications. More superficial types of
classification are based on minor features
and are generally called "descriptive."
Descriptive schemes may be highly detailed
but are of very limited applicability; they
are the "working" or field classifications,
which have been developed for particular
purposes and tend to be of an ephemeral
nature.
A unique genetic classification is the
natural classification of biological sys-
tematics, which is based on organic descent
(phylogenetic). It is genetic in a far
more profound way than other genetic
classifications.
A classification of trace fossils implies
a definition of the concept "trace fossil."
The concept as it is understood here in-
cludes borings (bioerosion structures) made
in a hard substrate as well as the bioturba-
tion structures made in an unconsolidated
particulate substrate. These concepts of the
differentiation of biogenic structures were
rigorously defined and explained by Frey
(1973) in a table reproduced here as
Table 3.1.
Worth noting is that animals interacting
with sediment may produce lamination and
bedding and that algae produce stromato-
lites. These features were considered by
Frey (1973) to form a separate group of
biogenic sedimentary structures, the bio-
stratification structures, besides the bio-
turbation structures and other entities that
constitute the true trace fossils.
Central to the concept of a trace fossil
is a shape defined by sedimentary bound-
Scott Simpson
aries, which can be explained in terms of
an organism moving its parts within, or on,
incoherent sediment or hard rock.
Examples agreeing with the above
description will be acceptable to all
geologists. But because of geologists' diverse
lines of approach, they have widely differ-
ing ideas about what should be excluded
or included at the periphery (d. Chapters
10 and 13). Workers to whom the behavioral
aspect of a trace fossil is of chief interest
consider any practice unnatural that ex-
cludes borings from the various sorts of
causative behavior (as is done by some
authors), but perfectly natural to exclude
stromatolites and the other, as yet un-
named, biostratification structures. In con-
trast, workers whose concern is mainly with
the stratinomic aspects are quite happy to
exclude borings. One sort of thing that is
here excluded from the concept of trace
fossil is exoskeletons that could be treated
as body fossils, such as the "test" of the
polychaete Pectinaria, and the permanent
body-size tubes of other polychaete worms.
In contrast, Lanice and Sabellaria, which
-although also polychaetes-move about
only within their permanently sessile dwell-
ing tubes (unlike Pectinaria, which humps
its house as it moves about), are appro-
priately classed as trace fossils (potentially!).
Conversely, another sort of thing here
treated as trace fossils, but not acceptable
as such by all workers, are feces, fecal
pellets, coprolites, castings, etc.
Our hope is that the consensus we repre-
sent will persuade other authors, by the
logic of our arguments, to accept and use
the concepts we recommend.
An essential feature of trace fossils is
that they are, at one and the same time,
(1) sedimentary structures (excepting bor-
ings), (2) traces of organic activity, and (3)
the product of particular sorts of organisms.
Three separate classifications apply to these
three aspects. The first, which is concerned
with trace fossils as sedimentary structures,
is essentially morphological and descriptive.