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The Cambrian (/ ˈ k æ m b r i. ə n, ˈ k eɪ m-/ KAM-bree-ən, KAYM-) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. [5] The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period 486.85 Ma.
The Cambrian explosion (also known as Cambrian radiation [1] or Cambrian diversification) is an interval of time beginning approximately in the Cambrian period of the early Paleozoic, when a sudden radiation of complex life occurred and practically all major animal phyla started appearing in the fossil record.
Volcanic activity, particularly that of large igneous provinces, has been speculated to have been the cause of the environmental crisis. [3] The emplacement of the Namaqualand–Garies dykes in South Africa has been dated to 485 mya, the time at which the Cambrian–Ordovician extinction event occurred, although there remains no unambiguous evidence of a causal relationship between this ...
It has also been suggested that the end of that second cold period [4] was responsible for the subsequent Cambrian explosion, a time of rapid diversification of multi-cellular life during the Cambrian Period. The hypothesis is still controversial, [5] [6] though is gaining credence among researchers, as evidence in its favour has mounted. [7]
c. 143.1 ± 0.6 Ma – End of Jurassic and beginning of Cretaceous Period. First dromeosaurs (raptors) evolve. c. 140 Ma – Earliest orb-weaver spiders evolve. First titanosaurs. c. 130 Ma – Laurasia and Gondwana begin to split apart as the Atlantic Ocean forms. First flowering plants. Earliest anglerfish.
The Cambrian is the first period of the Paleozoic Era and ran from 539 million to 485 million years ago. The Cambrian sparked a rapid expansion in the diversity of animals, in an event known as the Cambrian explosion , during which the greatest number of animal body plans evolved in a single period in the history of Earth.
Date (Mya) Event Before 1,000: Faint young Sun paradox: 2,400: Great Oxidation Event probably leads to Huronian glaciation perhaps covering the whole globe 650–600: Later Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth or Marinoan glaciation, precursor to the Cambrian explosion: 517: End-Botomian mass extinction; like the next two, little understood 502 ...
The first occurrence of Treptichnus pedum marks the Cambrian-Ediacaran boundary in Newfoundland, although there are several occurrences some metres below.. The opening of the Cambrian period is marked by a number of biological changes, including the extinction of the Ediacara biota, the preponderance of armoured organisms (e.g. the small shelly fossils), and a "widening of the behavioural ...