Site Details

Location

Scrabo Hill Trace Fossils

Grid reference

54.5774, -5.7151

Fossil Name

Scrabo Hill Trace Fossils

Fossil Type

Trace Fossils

Fossil Age

Triassic

Rock Type

Sandstone

Access Info

Historic discovery - not accessible

Fossil Info

There are many trace fossils in the sandstones at Scrabo, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. The trace fossils here were made by different animal species that lived in a desert-like environment during the Triassic period over 200 million years ago. These deserts had river beds that were usually dry but held water during short periods, e.g. flash floods. The animals that made the trace fossils at Scrabo hill include small and large arthropods such as scorpians and shrimp, that burrowed into the sand or walked along the surface, several worm-like invertebrate animals that burrowed into the sand and mud, and vertebrates including reptiles that left footprints on the surface of the sand.