Open crustacean burrows associated with hardgrounds in the Jurassic of the Cotswolds, England

The ramifying cavities within the Dagham Stone horizons of the Cotswold Bathonian have been cast in plastic, and are seen to be burrow systems of the Spongeliomorpha paradoxica type, probably excavated by crustaceans. Comparable Recent burrows are made by the shrimp Alpheus floridanus. The top surface of at least one burrowed bed is a hardground which underwent a period of emersion. Both hardground and the burrow walls support a hard substrate fauna. Comparison is made with a similar association from the Quaternary of the Persian Gulf.