Ichnology provides useful information on the environmental conditions that prevailed during or shortly after sediment deposition. As such, recognition and interpretation of trace fossils are now integrated in advanced sedimentological core and field studies.

Like most other laboratory or field techniques, ichnology should not be used as a stand-alone tool. Ichnofabric information is best used in the full context of the sedimentary framework. Only then can ichnology provide detailed environmental information that can be related to depositional processes, relative palaeobathymetry and sequence stratigraphy.