Detection of mineralogically accentuated biogenic structures with high-resolution geophysics: implications for ichnology and geoecology

Identification and mapping of small-scale physical and biogenic structures in sand has been a challenge to sedimentologists and ichnologists. Under natural conditions, biogenic activity (trampling tracks, burrows) alter primary sedimentary structures, but also serve as important paleoenvironmental indicators of geotechnical properties of sediments, omission surfaces, and ecosystem dynamics. Therefore, the ability to recognize such structures as anomalies in shallow subsurface, especially when using indirect non-invasive methods, such as geophysical imaging, is an important aspect of assessing their relative contribution to the overall erosional-depositional record. This study presents experimental evidence of the viability of two high-resolution geophysical methods in detecting sediment deformation that mimics shallow animal traces. High-frequency (800 MHz) ground-penetrating radar (GPR) imaging aided in visualizing a buried depression produced by a deer hoofprint cast indenter, with high-amplitude reflection return enhanced by a heavy-mineral concentration (HMC). Bulk in situ low-frequency (930 Hz), low-field magnetic susceptibility (MS) experiment supported the theoretical pattern of a decrease in MS over the thickest cover sand (maxim um indentation depth) to similar to 0 mSI and the highest values over raised HMC horizon (marginal ridge; >8 mSI). Because both methods are affected by the presence and relative abundance of heavy minerals, the present approach can be applied in most siliciclastic settings. This study demonstrates the promise of extending the 2D visualization of subsurface targets to 3D datasets, with potential implications for sedimentological, ichnological, archaeological, and geoecological research that involves animal-sediment interaction at different scales.