Old Red Sandstones in the Middle Devonian of Estonia: where are the trace fossils?

Five outcrops of the Middle Devonian sandstones in southern Estonia were studied in detail, but no trace fossils were found. Trace fossils are rare or in most places completely absent in the Old Red facies of the Middle Devonian in Estonia. The sedimentary conditions for development of Skolithos ichnofacies such as shifting substrates, moderate to high-energy settings and episodic erosion or deposition characterize the Middle Devonian Old Red sandstones in Estonia, but the lack of Skolithos and other shallow marine trace fossils in the studied sections is striking. The lack of trace fossils characteristic of the shallow sea suggests that the depositional environment was probably not fully marine during the Middle Devonian in Estonia. Instead was likely deposition in a brackish to freshwater environment.