Matground

A matground is a strong surface layer of bacterial fauna that hardened the surface of seabeds in the Proterozoic and early Cambrian. It is sometimes called "elephant skin" from its appearance when found in fossil deposits. It is theorized that matgrounds disappeared when priapulid worms evolved to be hardy and ubiquitous enough to break the matground when burrowing.[1][2][3][4]

See also

References
  1. Ediacaran matground ecology persisted into the earliest Cambrian, by Luis A. Buatois, Guy M. Narbonne, M. Gabriela Mángano, Noelia B. Carmona & Paul Myrow, Nature Communications volume 5, Article number: 3544 (2014), publ. 28 March 2014
  2. Matground Structures and Redox Facies, by Friedrich Pflüger, Palaios 1999, V. 14, 25-39
  3. Ediacaran matground ecology persisted into the earliest Cambrian, Luis A Buatois, Guy M Narbonne, M Gabriela Mángano, Noelia B Carmona, Paul Myrow, Nature Communications, 2014 March 28;5:3544.
  4. Youtube video How Worm Holes Ended Wormworld, by PBS Eons.


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