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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

SQU team finds Cambrian era fossils

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MUSCAT: During the field trips carried out by a research team from the Department of Earth Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, led Dr Mohamed el Ghali to study Haima Supergroup in Huqf Area (Governorate of Al Wusta), a strategic project funded by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, a new discovery of Thalassinoides trace fossil (Late Cambrian) was made. The discovered Thalassinoides are well preserved and cover a wide area within middle Miqrat Formation. This discovered Thalassinoides comprises cylindrical burrows (ca. 8 mm – 5 cm diameter) that form horizontal branching (10 - 22 cm long) polygonal network with shafts connected to the surface.

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reinterpret the proposed depositional environment of Miqrat Formation formerly. The Thalassinoides is well known to form by a variety of marine organisms. Many samples have been collected for further analysis in the Department of Earth Sciences and College of Science Labs, SQU and publish the results in high impact factor journals.

Wikipedia defines Thalassinoides as an ichnogenus of trace fossil used to refer to “dichotomously or T-branched boxworks, mazes and shafts, unlined and unornamented”. Facies of Thalassinoides increased suddenly in abundance at the beginning of the Mesozoic. Such burrows are made by a number of organisms, including the sea anemone Cerianthus, Balanoglossus and fishes, but are most closely associated with decapod crustaceans of the (former) infraorder Thalassinidea.


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