First evidence for locomotion in the Ediacara biota from the 565 Ma Mistaken Point Formation, Newfoundland: REPLY

The claim by Retallack (2010) that the ancient Mistaken Point trace fossil assemblage (Liu et al., 2010) might turn out to be a species of tool mark known only from shallow water, while interesting, is redundant because all our evidence points to a depositional environment that was unequivocally deep marine. Earlier publications did indeed favor a shallow marine interpretation (Misra, 1971). However, all subsequent sedimentologically focused studies of the Mistaken Point Formation have inferred deep-water turbidite or contourite depositional mechanisms (e.g., Narbonne et al., 2001; Wood et al., 2003; Ichaso et al., 2007), conclusions with which we firmly concur.