Ichnofacies and bathymetry: a passive relationship

Abstract

Ichnofacies stand today as one of the more elegant but widely misunderstood concepts in ichnology, especially where paleobathymetry is concerned. Marine ichnofacies are not intended to be paleobathometers, as some workers continue to imply (e.g., Lockley et al., 1987; Ekdale, 1988); rather, they are archetypical facies models based upon recurring ichnocoenoses (Frey and Pemberton, 1984, 1985, 1987). If a particular ichnocoenose tends to occur repeatedly within a given bathymetric setting, so much the better; but water depth per se is rarely, if ever, a governing factor. Ichnocoenoses and ichnofacies, therefore, are best viewed in the context of actual depositional conditions or environmental gradients, wherever they occur (Figure 1).