This small piece of sandstone has so much to show!
Asteriacites is the trace fossil of a starfish. It shows the burrow of sea stars and can be found from the Ordovician period and earlier within European and American sedimentary rock. Gastropod and arthropod tracks are also evident in this sandstone. They are another kind of bioturbation, or the preserved marks of plant or animal activity. Worm burrows are also common in marine trace fossils, however, it is difficult to say which exact organism made them.
Type: Starfish-Asteriacites, Gastropod tracks, Arthropod tracks, worm burrows Age: Pennsylvanian/Carboniferous (323 - 298 million years old) Locality: Rocky City Shale, Kansas City, Missouri
