The worm-like animals, however, left behind burrows that sometimes
solidified into grooves. Paleontologists have found such so-called trace
fossils dating back as far as 580 million years.
Seilacher and his colleagues found their grooved sandstone in 1996.
Radioisotope dating placed the age of the rocks at 1.1 billion years. At
first, the researchers thought the grooves were modern impressions of roots.
Upon a closer look, the grooves didnât look like roots. They came in
different widths, but unlike a root, a given groove didnât taper off. ăOur
burrows, when they branch, they have exactly the same width,ä Seilacher
says.
According to the researchers, the grooves also didnât look like
rock cracks or other features that are sometimes mistaken for worm tracks.
ăI donât know anything elseä that could explain the grooves,
Seilacher says."
http://www.abcnews.com/sections/science/DailyNews/worm980930.html
Now, there are two items that this find illustrates. It illustrates a
truth about the fossil record. The temporal gap between the first known
fossil and the second known fossil of any group is often a gap of several
million years. This means that at any given time, we may think we have the
earliest fossil and know when the group evolved, but we don't. Apply this
to more recent fossils, like those with man, we may think that the Genus
Homo arose 2.5 Myr ago with the appearance of H. rudolfensis, but it is
highly unlikely that this was the time and that the fossil we have was the
very earliest member of our genus.
Secondly, it weakens the claim that life 'suddenly' arose on earth at the
time of the Cambrian explosion. To date we have evidence of mollusks,
ediacaran multicellular organisms, sponges, and now worms in the
Precambrian. We have evidence of some precambrian organisms in the
Cambrian also. So, the Cambrian explosion is beginning to fizzle.
Anti-evolutionists who use the explosion as a means of supporting the Bible
and creation, should seriously rethink their position. The tide of
discovery is going against them.
glenn
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
Foundation, Fall and Flood
& lots of creation/evolution information
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm