Graduate student names new trace fossil discovered during coursework
Discovery is one of only a handful of wood-boring trace fossils from
marine environments found to-date

Date:
September 2, 2020
Source:
University of Alberta
Summary:
An intriguing fossil find has revealed fossilized tracks of a
newly discovered wood-boring organism in a new study.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== University of Alberta graduate student Scott Melnyk made an intriguing
fossil find during a graduate level course -- and ended up identifying
the fossilized tracks of a newly discovered wood-boring organism in a
new study.


========================================================================== "Apectoichnus lignummasticans is unique in that it is only the third
wood- boring trace fossil associated with marine environments," explained Melnyk, graduate student with the Department of Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences and member of the Ichnology Research Group.

Trace fossils, which include tracks, burrows, and tunnels, are the
fossilized evidence of the activities of past life, explained Melnyk,
who conducted the research under the supervision of Professor Murray
Gingras in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

"Trace fossils are very useful to interpret environmental characteristics
of Earth millions of years ago," said Melnyk. "The marine origin of
these fossils, for example, provides evidence that the shallow sea that
covered much of Western Canada -- the Cretaceous Interior Seaway --
extended into west-central Saskatchewan roughly 100 million years ago."
Melnyk came across the fossil during a graduate-level sedimentology
course in one of the cores of the University of Alberta's Drill Core Collection. The collection was donated by Shell Canada and contains
more than 6,000 metres of drill cores that the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences uses for teaching and research.

"The following year I became a teaching assistant for the course, and
brought the fossil to the attention of my advisor, Murray Gingras,"
said Melnyk. "From there we set out to study whether or not the trace
fossils were in fact unique and determine their geological significance."
And while the fossils are significant for their geological rarity,
they're also a cause to celebrate the research of graduate students.

"This is only the second time in 20 years that a University of Alberta
graduate student has named a new trace fossil," said Gingras. "The fossils
are similar in many respects to modern borings in wood by marine isopods
-- this was a remarkable find and a testament to the importance of our students' work."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Alberta. Original
written by Andrew Lyle.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Scott Melnyk, Stephen Packer, John-Paul Zonneveld, Murray
K. Gingras. A
new marine woodground ichnotaxon from the Lower Cretaceous Mannville
Group, Saskatchewan, Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 2020; 1 DOI:
10.1017/jpa.2020.63 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200902091129.htm

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