When conditions are right, footprints can be left behind when animals walk over soft sediment such as mud or sand. These spores can then be sun dried and then filled with other sediment. This increases the possibility that they will become archaeological fossils, which are fossils also known as ichnofossils fossils.
“Track fossils are fossils that record aspects of an animal’s behavior or anatomy that are not embedded in the skeleton,” Barrett said. “This could include footprint trails, and coprolites [gefossiliseerde uitwerpselen]tunnels, burrows, and the contents of the alimentary canal, and is a representation of an animal’s interactions with its environment or the substances it produces.”
“Tracks like these are often not associated with any particular species, except in very exceptional circumstances, but they can be very common where things like footprints are created thousands of times over the life of a single animal.”
As rocks rise and erode over time, traces that have been buried for millions of years can appear. Many archaeological excavations have been found near the water where the surrounding rocks are eroded, exposing the core fossils.
However, there are also natural processes that can produce shapes that resemble paw prints.
For example, minerals such as gypsum can melt and leave cavities resembling footprints, while small mud volcanoes can produce what appears to be the edge of a footprint.
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