The Trace-Fossil Diplocraterion: Evidence of Animal-Sediment Interactions in Cambrian Tidal Deposits

The U-shaped, spreiten-bearing burrows Diplocraterion parallelum and D. habichi in the Hickory Sandstone Member of the Riley Formation (Cambrian), record interactions with other metazoans and the substrate, thus revealing paleoecologic, sedimentologic, and environmental details about this basal-transgressive, cratonic sandstone in central Texas. Diplocraterion is a diagnostic marine trace fossil and can be used to separate nonmarine from marine environments in basal Paleozoic, cratonic sandstones. It is useful in identifying tidally influenced environments when found in facies resulting from high-energy deposition