Devil's Corkscrew

Contents

Devil's Corkscrew is a vernacular name applied to a distinctive fossil trace characterized by large, helically spiraled burrow casts found in Miocene and Oligocene strata, interpreted as the work of extinct burrowing mammals and invertebrates. The structure has been compared across sites studied by paleontologists from institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, Natural History Museum, London, American Museum of Natural History, University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University. Debates over makers have involved researchers influenced by work on taxa and formations including Beaverhead County, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, and Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park.

Description and Morphology

Large spiral casts measuring up to several meters in length and tens of centimeters in diameter exhibit a helical geometry with longitudinal central shafts and lateral spreiten, comparable to trace fossils described in classical ichnology by authors affiliated with Royal Society, Geological Society of London, Paleontological Society, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and departments at University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. Morphological studies reference analogues from work by researchers connected to Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, and University of Texas at Austin. Cross-sectional analyses have been published in journals associated with Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Paleontology, and Palaeontology and compared against burrows documented in formations like the Chadron Formation, Brule Formation, Clarence Valley, Ogallala Formation, and Arikaree Formation. Helical pitch, burrow lining, and fill textures have been examined using techniques developed at California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, Max Planck Society, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Specimens attributed to this morphotype appear in stratigraphic units across North America and Europe with notable occurrences reported from collections curated by Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Field Museum of Natural History, Royal Tyrrell Museum, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, and Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan. Reported localities include fluvial and lacustrine facies in basins studied by geologists from U.S. Geological Survey, British Geological Survey, Geological Survey of Canada, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, and Geological Survey of Norway. Associated sedimentological contexts reference depositional settings similar to those in the White River Formation, Wiltshire Chalk, Paris Basin, Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, and Po Basin, and paleoenvironmental reconstructions have been informed by collaborators at NOAA, US Forest Service, National Park Service, UNESCO, and International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Interpretations of the trace as evidence for fossorial behavior have influenced discussions in vertebrate paleoecology and invertebrate ichnology at symposia organized by Society of American Vertebrate Paleontology, International Ichnological Association, European Geosciences Union, American Geophysical Union, and GSA (Geological Society of America). Competing authors from Stanford University, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, and Cornell University have invoked comparisons with burrowing vertebrates such as taxa known from Hyaenodon-era faunas, Entelodontidae-bearing assemblages, and inferred behaviors paralleling modern analogues studied by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The structure has been used to infer paleoecological parameters—soil rheology, water table fluctuation, and climate proxies—alongside isotopic and palynological datasets produced in collaboration with Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, and British Antarctic Survey.

Historical reports of the structure entered the literature through field notes and monographs by collectors and geologists associated with Edward Drinker Cope-era surveys, later cataloged by curators at Smithsonian Institution and referenced in regional bulletins from U.S. Geological Survey and county geological surveys. Nomenclatural usage reflects vernacular labeling akin to other fossil nicknames recorded in archives at Library of Congress, British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Bodleian Libraries, and Vatican Library. Subsequent formal ichnotaxonomic treatment and debate involved authors publishing in outlets such as Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Geological Magazine, Transactions of the Royal Society, and Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, with participation by paleontologists affiliated with University of Kansas, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Oklahoma State University, Kansas Geological Survey, and Nebraska Geological Survey.

The name has entered regional folklore, museum exhibit labels, and outreach materials produced by institutions like Smithsonian Institution, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Royal Tyrrell Museum, Field Museum of Natural History, and American Museum of Natural History, inspiring artistic responses showcased at venues including Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim Museum, and Louvre. Popular media references have appeared in documentaries by BBC Natural History Unit, National Geographic Society, Discovery Channel, PBS, and Netflix, and the motif has been used in educational curricula developed with National Science Teachers Association and American Association for the Advancement of Science. The structure has also informed speculative representations in literature and film associated with creators connected to Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Lucasfilm, and Marvel Studios.

Category:Trace fossils