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Matgrounds are strong surface layers of seabed-hardening bacterial fauna preserved in the
Matgrounds are strong surface layers of seabed-hardening bacterial fauna preserved in the Proterozoic
The Proterozoic () is a geological eon spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8million years ago. It is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". It is also the longest eon of the Earth's geologic time scale, and it is subdivided ...
and lower Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ag ...
. Wrinkled matgrounds are informally named "elephant skin" because of its wrinkled surface in the fossil record. Matgrounds supported themselves until early Burrowing worms were ubiquitous enough to unharden them. Burrowing animals broke down the hardy mats to further penetrate the underlying sediment for protection and feeding. Once matgrounds disappeared, exceptional preservation of lagerstätten such as the Burgess Shale
The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fos ...
or Ediacara Hills
Ediacara Hills are a range of low hills in the northern part of the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, around north of the state capital of Adelaide. The hills are known for being the location of significant fossils, and have given their na ...
also did so too. Trace fossils
A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (; from el, ἴχνος ''ikhnos'' "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, ...
such as Treptichnus are evidence for soft-bodied burrowers more anatomically complex than the Ediacaran biota that also caused the matgrounds dissapearance.
See also
*Cambrian substrate revolution
The "Cambrian substrate revolution" or "Agronomic revolution", evidenced in trace fossils, is the diversification of animal burrowing during the early Cambrian period.
Before this "widening of the behavioural repertoire", bottom-dwelling animal ...
References