Cruzianas, Ordovician trilobites traces

This 3D model was acquired near the locality of Navas de Estena, by the park of "Cabañeros, in the province of Ciudad Real, Spain.

The model represents the surface of a rock layer made of quartzite and deposited in the Ordovician age (around 480 milions years ago).

The strata surface is quite spectacular because it is covered by a huge number of "cruzianas", the characteristic burrows left by ancient fossil trilobites, when they were crawling on the soft sediments of the sea bottom.

Representations of the formation of the "cruziana" traces by a trilobite.

"Cruzianas" typically consist of elongate, bilobed, approximately bilaterally symmetrical burrows (Wikipedia).

Source: "GeoBierzo fósiles y minerales"

Source: "Museo de Trilobites en la Casa Rural del Boquerón de Estena"

The 3D model displays the casts of the "cruzianas" seen from below, as they appear in the present day outcrop (annotation 1 in the model).

By turning the model upside down, it is possible to see the "crucianas" from above, simulating the natural orientation at the time when they were initially formed (annotation 2 in the model).