So you are up here, on the flagstone path that the Pennine Way follows, you may be tired and head down, if so then you are head down looking at these slabs. Yes, they may look boring at times, but take some time to look at what is here.
You are looking for the evidence of ancient life, when these slabs were laid down. This evidence is in the form of a fossil. A fossil is trace or remains of a plant, animal or other organisms. However, there is more to fossilization than just bones, or remains of a T Rex. There are many EarthCaches which can teach you about the whole process of fossilization, what we are concerned with are ichnofossils. The simpler way to understand an ichnofossil are that there are traces of a biological activity, in the form of a geological record. They are also known as trace fossils, and thus show a trace of an impression made on the substrate, and can be root cavities, feeding marks, footprints, and remains of excretia, such as fossilized droppings.
Geology can be difficult to understand, so below are some easy ways to describe types of trace fossils.
1. Cochlichnus. These are caused by locomotion (i.e movement), and can be a curving or a meandering smooth horizontal trace.
2. Lockeia. These have the shape similar to an almond, and in technical terms could be described as ovoid. These are the trace of a bivalve resting place. A bivalve is a type of mollusc, such as a m
I have included pictures of the above for you to look at.
This being an EarthCache, in order to log it, I ask that you answer some questions.
Please send them to me, and do not include them in your log. You can send them to me by using the message facility or email, both of which can be found by looking at my profile. It is not meant to be difficult to do.
1. Please identify the type of ichnofossil that you can find here.
2. In your own words please describe what the ichnofossil looks like, its size (length, width and depth).