Swimming Triassic Reptiles Leave Tracks on the Ocean Floor

First Posted: Feb 09, 2015 07:07 PM EST
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Swimming reptiles have made their mark in the Triassic. Scientists have taken a look at early Triassic deposits and have found that they contain the highest number of fossil swim track occurrences worldwide compared to other epochs.

When reptiles swim through the water, they trail their bodies through the muddy bottom, leaving tracks that can later be preserved. The fact that so many tracks were discovered in the early Triassic hints that there were a large number of swimming vertebrates during that time. In fact, the number becomes even greater when epoch duration and rock outcrop area are taken into account.

So why this spike in swim track occurrences? It suggests that during the early Triassic, factors promoting swim track production and preservation were more common. Coincidentally, this epoch follows the largest mass extinction even in Earth's history. The fossil record also indicates that there was a prolonged period of delayed recovery that persisted during this time period.

During the recovery period, sediment mixing by animals living within the substrate was minimal, especially in particularly stressful environments, such as marine deltas. This lack of sediment mixing was the major cause of the widespread production of firm-ground substrates that were ideal for recording and preserving subaqueous trace fossils like swim tracks.

The findings reveal a bit more about this time period. It also shows what environmental conditions were present. This is crucial when it comes to determining what may have caused the extinction event and how long recovery was afterward.

The findings are published in the journal Geology.

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