Polykampton Ooster, 1869

Uchman, Alfred & Wetzel, Andreas, 2024, Sequestrichnia - an ethological category of marine trace fossils recording the collection and stowage of nutritional material within burrows, Comptes Rendus Palevol 23 (22), pp. 325-338 : 328

Ichnogenus Polykampton Ooster, 1869

Polykampton occurring in Cretaceous (Albian) to Oligocene deposits represents a horizontal median tunnel with lateral spreite lobes, which alternate on either side of the tunnel and are slightly inclined to bedding; the tunnel runs within the interval of the spreite lobes or underneath ( Uchman et al. 2019). Polykampton is produced: 1) in the sandy or muddy interval of (turbiditic) event beds; 2) along the mudstonesandstone interface; or 3) across the sandstone-mudstone transition in turbiditic beds. The spreite and the main tunnel contain mud that is enriched in organic matter compared to the surrounding host sediment (Corg 3.05% vs 1.05%; Uchman et al. 2019). The mud was evidently introduced from above into the burrow. The organic content of spreite lobes could be a source of additional benthic food in the short term, just after organic-rich material was sequestered on the surface and stowed in spreite lobes. In addition, or alternatively, the producer could utilize organic matter when passing through the tunnel during the construction of a new lobe. By then, the sequestered organic-rich material might have already been altered to some degree by microbial activity.