Trace fossils from the Cambrian sequence of Zanskar (Ladakh Himalaya)

Spiti - Zanskar Basin of Himalaya exposes rocks ranging in age from Proterozoic to Early Cenozoic. Cambrian trilobites, brachiopods and trace fossils are known from the Kurgiakh area of the basin. The present paper concerns with Early Cambrian trace fossils reported from the same stratigraphic section in which trilobite body fossils are known. The assemblage of trace fossils include : Chondrites sp., Cruziana sp., Rusophycus sp., Phycodes palmatum, sp., Didymaulichnus sp., Protichnites sp., Monomorphicnus monolinearis, Diplichnites sp, associated with scratch marks indicating trilobite movements. The finding of trace fossils far below the definite brachiopod and trilobite body fossil horizons in the Lower Cambrian sequence of Kurgiakh area of Zanskar is of significance.