Precambrian "fossil" Vermiforma is a tectograph

Vermiforma antiqua Cloud 1976, once celebrated as the earliest animal fossi l of the United States, is actually a tectonic artifact, The main argument is that the congruence and equal orientation of multiple patterns on the sa me bedding plane are incompatible with swaying worm bodies or worm burrows. As shown by analog and numerical simulations, these structures can be expl ained as tracks of particles that broke out from the base of an overlying t urbidite and became rolled between beds during bed-to-bed shearing.