Spreite
![Example of spreite in a Diplocraterion burrow (at left) from the Silurian Tuscarora Formation in Pennsylvania.](/Images/godic/202502/12/Tuscarora21331.jpg")
![Diagram showing the differences between meniscate and spreiten burrows. Modified from Chamberlain (1978).[1]](/Images/godic/202502/12/Spreite1331.jpg")
Spreite (or spreiten in German) are tabular, curved laminae that are characteristic of certain trace fossils. They are formed by invertebrate organisms tunneling back and forth through sediment in search of food. The organism moves just enough on each back-and-forth pass so that it avoids reworking a previously tunneled area, thereby ensuring that it only makes feeding passes through fresh, unworked sediment.