Trace Fossils from the Athabasca Oil Sands, Alberta, Canada

Abstract

A diverse and well-preserved ichnofossil suite has been identified from surface exposures of the middle and upper parts of the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation. The suite, consisting of representatives of at least ten ichnogenera, is one of the few clues to the original biotic component of the deposit. The distribution and abundance of these biogenic structures present strong evidence that the deep channel complex in which the sediments were deposited was closely associated with a nearby marine shoreline.