摘要： 海相遗迹学经历了博物学者时代、藻类时代、大辩论时代、黎明时代,目前正处于现代遗迹学时代。海相遗迹学发展历程中的里程碑事件包括:博物学者对遗迹化石的初步研究、遗迹化石真实属性的确立、德国森根堡海洋研究所的建立、遗迹化石的行为习性分类,以及遗迹相、遗迹组构等重要概念的提出和发展。在系统回顾总结海相遗迹学成就和问题的基础上,着重展示了海相遗迹学发展的3个方向:遗迹化石三维形态重建与形态发生模拟,综合遗迹分类学以及微观手段的运用。海相遗迹学在诠释遗迹化石所反映的生物行为习性以及不同尺度生物—环境相互作用与协同演化等方面具有重要意义。

关键词: 遗迹化石, 海相, 遗迹沉积学, 计算机模拟, 定量方法, 微观手段

Abstract: Marine ichnology mainly discusses marine invertebrate trace fossils and embraces a long history of more than 200 years,which dates back as far as the Renaissance-the Age of Naturalists. After the Age of Fucoids,Period of Controversy,and the Development of the Modern Approach,marine ichnology is currently in the Modern Era. Key events in the history of marine ichnology include:The preliminary study of marine ichnofossils by naturalists such as Leonardo da Vinci,clarification of “fucoids”as animal traces through experiments by A.G. Nathorst,ethological classification of trace fossils by Adolf Seilacher,establishment of Senckenberg am Meer in Germany by Rudolf Richter,and the proposition and practice of the ichnofacies and ichnofabrics concepts. However,with the vast development of computer and life sciences,along with much progress in experimental tools,a period of interdisciplinary ichnological studies dictate. This review acknowledges the rich legacies of ichnology in the past and highlights three promising areas where marine ichnology can go:(1)three-dimensional morphological reconstruction and behavioral simulation(morphogenesis)of traces fossils;(2)comprehensive ichnotaxonomy incorporating multi-scale geometrical description,such as topology and fractal geometry;and(3)application of geochemical and geobiological analyses. Intensive studies on these three topics will render important messages to the interpretation of fossil behaviors,their palaeobiology,as well as organism-environment interaction and co-evolution on various scales.

Key words: trace fossil, marine facies, ichnosedimentology, computer simulation, quantitative method, microscopic method

中图分类号: 

• Q911.28