4.4 Article

Transgression-regression cycles drive correlations in Ediacaran-Cambrian rock and fossil records

Related references

Note: Only part of the references are listed.
Article Biodiversity Conservation

Coupling of geographic range and provincialism in Cambrian marine invertebrates

Lin Na et al.

Summary: This study examines the temporal and spatial changes of marine animals during the Cambrian period using a compositional network based on fossil occurrence data. The results show an increase in regional differences of faunal composition and a decrease in by-species geographic distribution during the first three stages of the Cambrian period. The study also suggests that general biogeography tends to be reshaped after global extinction pulses. The abrupt biogeographic differentiation during the Cambrian radiation was likely controlled by a combination of tectonics, paleoclimate, and dispersal capacity changes.

PALEOBIOLOGY (2023)

Article Geochemistry & Geophysics

Surface evolution during the mid-Proterozoic stalled by mantle warming under Columbia-Rodinia

Yi Zou et al.

Summary: The thermal state of the mantle affects lithospheric dynamics and Earth's surface evolution. Geodynamic simulations suggest that aggregated continents may lead to mantle warming and weaker continental lithosphere, resulting in lower-relief orogens during the mid-Proterozoic period. This weakened lithosphere reduced erosion, limited nutrient delivery to the oceans, hindered oxygen accumulation, and stalled surface evolution.

EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS (2023)

Article Geochemistry & Geophysics

Ediacaran-Ordovician tectonic and geodynamic drivers of Great Unconformity exhumation on the southern Canadian Shield

Barra A. Peak et al.

Summary: The Great Unconformity erosion surface between Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and Archean-Proterozoic basement has been explained by multiple factors including glacial erosion during Snowball Earth glaciations, sea level fluctuations, and tectonic and geodynamic mechanisms. New data from zircon and apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology show that there was extensive exhumation in the study area between approximately 590-577 Ma and 470 Ma, suggesting that tectonic and geodynamic processes were the main causes of the Great Unconformity. These findings expand our understanding of the spatial extent of exhumation in the Canadian Shield and suggest that glacial and sea-level processes were not the primary drivers.

EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS (2023)

Article Geography, Physical

No (Cambrian) explosion and no (Ordovician) event: A single long-term radiation in the early Palaeozoic

Thomas Servais et al.

Summary: During the late Precambrian and early Cambrian, there was a gradual increase in the diversity of life, with the appearance of almost all animal phyla. However, there is no clear Cambrian explosion and Ordovician event, but rather a continuous and complex radiation of life throughout the Ordovician.

PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY (2023)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Phanerozoic flooding of North America and the Great Unconformity

Adrian R. Tasistro-Hart et al.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2023)

Article Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Calibrating the temporal and spatial dynamics of the Ediacaran - Cambrian radiation of animals

Fred T. Bowyer et al.

Summary: This study presents a new delta C-13(carb) composite reference curve for the Ediacaran Nama Group and proposes four possible global age models for the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition. These models reveal the variability in the terminal Ediacaran and support the pre-BACE first appearance of Cambrian-type shelly fossils in Siberia and possibly South China.

EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS (2022)

Review Astronomy & Astrophysics

Macrostratigraphy: Insights into Cyclic and Secular Evolution of the Earth-Life System

Shanan E. Peters et al.

Summary: Rocks in Earth's crust are formed, modified, and destroyed in response to interactions between the solid Earth, the fluid Earth, and the living Earth. The geological record integrates geological, biological, and climatological processes and their histories. Macrostratigraphy helps understand the evolution of the Earth system by studying the quantity-age properties of rocks in continental and oceanic crust.

ANNUAL REVIEW OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES (2022)

Article Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Ediacaran survivors in the Cambrian: suspicions, denials and a smoking gun

Jennifer F. Hoyal Cuthill

Summary: The timing of extinctions and originations plays a crucial role in understanding evolution. In this study, the author argues that previous reports of Ediacaran survivors have been dismissed due to mistaken identity, similarities to other organisms, or assumptions about their extinction. By using the example of the lower Cambrian species Stromatoveris psygmoglena, the author demonstrates that extinction of the Ediacaran frondose biota did not occur until at least 30 million years after the end of the Ediacaran period. The study concludes that the classically Ediacaran frondose biota experienced multiple extinction events, but there is no direct evidence linking their extinction to the Cambrian transition.

GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE (2022)

Review Multidisciplinary Sciences

Biomineralization: Integrating mechanism and evolutionary history

Pupa U. P. A. Gilbert et al.

Summary: Calcium carbonate biomineralizing organisms have had significant roles in the history of life and the global carbon cycle. By integrating mechanisms of CaCO3 skeleton formation with evolutionary history, omics, and isotopic data, a model for CaCO3 biomineralization applicable to all phyla is proposed, aiding in understanding the environmental sensitivity of marine calcifiers and their resilience in 21st century acidifying oceans.

SCIENCE ADVANCES (2022)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Environmental drivers of the first major animal extinction across the Ediacaran White Sea-Nama transition

Scott D. Evans et al.

Summary: The Ediacara Biota consists of three distinct assemblages, with the White Sea assemblage experiencing a notable decline in diversity compared to the Avalon and Nama assemblages. The decline in diversity is not due to sampling bias, but rather is likely driven by an environmentally driven extinction event. This study supports a link between Ediacaran biotic turnover and global environmental change.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2022)

Article Geochemistry & Geophysics

Pulses of atmosphere oxygenation during the Cambrian radiation of animals

Lei Jiang et al.

Summary: This study investigates the relationship between oxygenation and the radiation of animals during the Early Cambrian period. By analyzing sediment samples from the Tarim Basin in NW China, the researchers found evidence of an oxygenation event around 515 to 510 million years ago. This event was accompanied by an increase in atmospheric oxygen levels and is believed to have played a crucial role in accelerating the radiation of marine animals.

EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS (2022)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

A diverse Ediacara assemblage survived under low-oxygen conditions

Lucas B. Cherry et al.

Summary: The Ediacaran biota were soft-bodied organisms that lived in marine environments between 574 and 539 million years ago. There are different hypotheses about their taxonomic grouping and metabolism, with some suggesting a metazoan affinity and aerobic metabolism, and others proposing a separate taxonomic group and reliance on chemoautotrophy. A study on Ediacaran fossils from Siberia indicates that these organisms were tolerant of low-oxygen conditions and had the capacity for anaerobic metabolisms.

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS (2022)

Article Geochemistry & Geophysics

[Ca2+] and [SO42-] in Phanerozoic and terminal Proterozoic seawater from fluid inclusions in halite: The significance of Ca-SO4 crossover points

Mebrahtu F. Weldeghebriel et al.

Summary: Chemical analyses of fluid inclusions in marine halite were used to determine the concentrations of calcium ions and sulfate ions in paleoseawater over the past 550 million years. The study found oscillations in the concentrations of calcium ions and sulfate ions in ancient seawater, which were related to tectonic events, climate changes, and continental drift. The use of a new analysis method produced more accurate results that were consistent with other studies. The findings of this research are important for understanding the evolution of ancient marine environments and Earth's dynamic processes.

EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS (2022)

Article Geology

Cryogenian glacial erosion of the central Canadian Shield: The ?late? Great Unconformity on thin ice

Kalin T. McDannell et al.

Summary: The study suggests that the Great Unconformity phenomenon was caused by glacial erosion rather than tectonic or magmatic events associated with the supercontinent cycle, based on the analysis of samples from northern Manitoba in Canada.

GEOLOGY (2022)

Article Paleontology

Ediacaran macrofossils prior to the ∼580 Ma Gaskiers glaciation in Newfoundland, Canada

Alexander G. Liu et al.

Summary: The study revealed new macrofossils from the Bonavista Peninsula in Newfoundland, Canada, with an age predating previously reported fossils from Avalonia and extending the window for macroscopic organism preservation. This finding confirms the long stratigraphical range of Palaeopascichnid fossils globally, providing insights into the age of poorly time-constrained stratigraphical units and the formal subdivision of the Ediacaran System in Norway and Australia.

LETHAIA (2021)

Review Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

The trace fossil record of the Nama Group, Namibia: Exploring the terminal Ediacaran roots of the Cambrian explosion

Simon A. F. Darroch et al.

Summary: The Ediacaran-Cambrian transition is a significant geobiological revolution in Earth history, involving multiple waves of evolutionary radiation and apparent mass extinctions. Factors such as ecosystem engineering, trace fossils, and bioturbation may have played crucial roles during this period.

EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS (2021)

Review Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Biodiversity across space and time in the fossil record

Roger B. J. Benson et al.

Summary: The fossil record is the primary source of information on biodiversity over time, but interpretations of diversity patterns are debated due to spatial and temporal patchiness. Focusing on global diversity alone cannot untangle the signals of ecological drivers at different scales, necessitating a shift towards spatially explicit investigations. Research has shown stability in species richness variation among environments and potential climatic drivers of biodiversity change.

CURRENT BIOLOGY (2021)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Ediacaran metazoan reveals lophotrochozoan affinity and deepens root of Cambrian Explosion

A. J. Shore et al.

Summary: Through exceptional preservation, a phylogenetic connection between Ediacaran and Cambrian metazoans is established. The discovery of three-dimensional, pyritized soft tissue in Namacalathus provides evidence of a lophotrochozoan affinity and suggests deep roots of modern lophotrochozoan phyla in the Ediacaran period. This supports molecular phylogenies and demonstrates the early development of biomineralization abilities in these ancient organisms.

SCIENCE ADVANCES (2021)

Article Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Developmental capacity and the early evolution of animals

Douglas H. Erwin

Summary: This article discusses the influences of ecological opportunity, environmental potential, and developmental capacity on the evolution of macroscopic animals during the diversification process, proposing a conceptual framework focusing on the expansion of developmental capacity through novelty and individuation. Comparative developmental studies and data from the fossil record suggest that developmental capacity can rapidly expand through developmental novelties without leading directly to morphological novelties or innovation.

JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (2021)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

The tempo of Ediacaran evolution

Chuan Yang et al.

Summary: New radio-isotopic dates from Late Ediacaran strata in South China reveal time transgressive features and two large negative carbon isotope excursions between 575 and 550 million years ago, providing important calibration for the pace of Ediacaran evolution and changes in the carbon cycle.

SCIENCE ADVANCES (2021)

Article Geochemistry & Geophysics

The Late Great Unconformity of the Central Canadian Shield

C. P. Sturrock et al.

Summary: The Great Unconformity is a widespread surface separating Precambrian rocks from overlying Phanerozoic sedimentary sequences, with debated causes and implications. New thermochronologic data from the central Canadian Shield suggest that the Precambrian basement cooled and experienced erosion events between 650 and 440 million years ago, followed by later reheating during burial. This late Great Unconformity in the region implies multiple temporally distinct erosion events with differing footprints and mechanisms.

GEOCHEMISTRY GEOPHYSICS GEOSYSTEMS (2021)

Article Geography, Physical

Dramatic attenuation of continental weathering during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition: Implications for the climatic-oceanic-biological co-evolution

Gongjing Zhang et al.

Summary: This study analyzed samples from a non-glacial Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary section on the mid-low-latitude Yangtze Block in South China, using magnesium isotopic and chemical data to constrain chemical weathering intensity, climate, oceanic, and biological coevolution during this critical interval. The findings revealed a significant negative δ26Mg excursion near the E-C boundary, indicating a weakening in chemical weathering intensity likely due to climate cooling.

GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE (2021)

Review Paleontology

Current understanding on the Cambrian Explosion: questions and answers

Xingliang Zhang et al.

Summary: The Cambrian Explosion is a three-phased burst of animal body plans, characterized by changes in population diversity, morphospace exploration, and ecosystem complexity. The high number of stem groups in the early history of animals led to the morphological gaps across phyla that exist today. Despite a broad range of metazoan morphospace occupation in the early Cambrian, the exact causes of the explosion are complex and cannot be attributed to a single factor.
Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

The developmental biology of Charnia and the eumetazoan affinity of the Ediacaran rangeomorphs

Frances S. Dunn et al.

Summary: Researchers characterized the development of Charnia masoni and established its affinity with rangeomorphs in the Ediacaran macrobiota, providing evidence for their internal interconnected nature. The study revealed that Charnia was constructed of repeated branches and proposed homology between disparate rangeomorph taxa. By resolving Charnia as a stem-eumetazoan, the research expanded on the anatomical disparity of that group and brought competing records of early animal evolution into closer agreement.

SCIENCE ADVANCES (2021)

Review Biology

On the co-evolution of surface oxygen levels and animals

Devon B. Cole et al.

GEOBIOLOGY (2020)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Diachronous development of Great Unconformities before Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth

Rebecca M. Flowers et al.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2020)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Discovery of the oldest bilaterian from the Ediacaran of South Australia

Scott D. Evans et al.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2020)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Dynamic and synchronous changes in metazoan body size during the Cambrian Explosion

Andrey Yu. Zhuravlev et al.

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS (2020)

Article Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

The Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary: Evaluating stratigraphic completeness and the Great Unconformity

Setareh Shahkarami et al.

PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH (2020)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Calibrating the coevolution of Ediacaran life and environment

Alan D. Rooney et al.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2020)

Review Multidisciplinary Sciences

The redox structure of Ediacaran and early Cambrian oceans and its controls

Chao Li et al.

SCIENCE BULLETIN (2020)

Article Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Possible links between extreme oxygen perturbations and the Cambrian radiation of animals

Tianchen He et al.

NATURE GEOSCIENCE (2019)

Article Geology

The Ediacaran-Cambrian transition: sedimentary facies versus extinction

J. G. Gehling et al.

ESTUDIOS GEOLOGICOS-MADRID (2019)

News Item Multidisciplinary Sciences

Glacial Origins of Geologic Gaps

[Anonymous]

AMERICAN SCIENTIST (2019)

Article Geochemistry & Geophysics

Macrostrat: A Platform for Geological Data Integration and Deep-Time Earth Crust Research

Shanan E. Peters et al.

GEOCHEMISTRY GEOPHYSICS GEOSYSTEMS (2018)

Review Ecology

Ediacaran Extinction and Cambrian Explosion

Simon A. F. Darroch et al.

TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION (2018)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Coupling of ocean redox and animal evolution during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition

Dan Wang et al.

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS (2018)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Ancient steroids establish the Ediacaran fossil Dickinsonia as one of the earliest animals

Ilya Bobrovskiy et al.

SCIENCE (2018)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

The two phases of the Cambrian Explosion

Andrey Yu. Zhuravlev et al.

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS (2018)

Review Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Ediacaran scavenging as a prelude to predation

James G. Gehling et al.

EMERGING TOPICS IN LIFE SCIENCES (2018)

Review Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Nature of the sedimentary rock record and its implications for Earth system evolution

Jon M. Husson et al.

EMERGING TOPICS IN LIFE SCIENCES (2018)

Article Geology

Sediment cycling on continental and oceanic crust

Shanan E. Peters et al.

GEOLOGY (2017)

Review Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

The Weng'an Biota (Doushantuo Formation): an Ediacaran window on soft-bodied and multicellular microorganisms

John A. Cunningham et al.

JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (2017)

Editorial Material Paleontology

Presidential Address Structure, not Bias

Steven M. Holland

JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY (2017)

Article Biodiversity Conservation

The Paleobiology Database application programming interface

Shanan E. Peters et al.

PALEOBIOLOGY (2016)

Review Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

The valuation of unconformities

Andrew D. Miall

EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS (2016)

Article Paleontology

Palaeodiversity and formation counts: redundancy or bias?

Michael J. Benton

PALAEONTOLOGY (2015)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

The advent of animals: The view from the Ediacaran

Mary L. Droser et al.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2015)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Rise to modern levels of ocean oxygenation coincided with the Cambrian radiation of animals

Xi Chen et al.

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS (2015)

Review Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

The supercontinent cycle: A retrospective essay

R. Damian Nance et al.

GONDWANA RESEARCH (2014)

Review Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Co-evolution of eukaryotes and ocean oxygenation in the Neoproterozoic era

Timothy M. Lenton et al.

NATURE GEOSCIENCE (2014)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Disentangling rock record bias and common-cause from redundancy in the British fossil record

Alexander M. Dunhill et al.

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS (2014)

Review Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

The end of the Ediacara biota: Extinction, biotic replacement, or Cheshire Cat?

Marc Laflamme et al.

GONDWANA RESEARCH (2013)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Oceanographic controls on the diversity and extinction of planktonic foraminifera

Shanan E. Peters et al.

NATURE (2013)

Article Geography, Physical

Contrasting patterns and connections of rock and biotic diversity in the marine and non-marine fossil records of North America

Deborah L. Rook et al.

PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY (2013)

Article Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

The ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart

K. M. Cohen et al.

EPISODES (2013)

Review Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

The Neoproterozoic oxygenation event: Environmental perturbations and biogeochemical cycling

Lawrence M. Och et al.

EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS (2012)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Formation of the 'Great Unconformity' as a trigger for the Cambrian explosion

Shanan E. Peters et al.

NATURE (2012)

Article Geochemistry & Geophysics

A 56 million year rhythm in North American sedimentation during the Phanerozoic

Stephen R. Meyers et al.

EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS (2011)

Article Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Covariation in macrostratigraphic and macroevolutionary patterns in the marine record of North America

Noel A. Heim et al.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN (2011)

Article Geology

Stratigraphic distribution of marine fossils in North America

Shanan E. Peters et al.

GEOLOGY (2011)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Phanerozoic Earth System Evolution and Marine Biodiversity

Bjarte Hannisdal et al.

SCIENCE (2011)

Review Ecology

On the eve of animal radiation: phylogeny, ecology and evolution of the Ediacara biota

Shuhai Xiao et al.

TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION (2009)

Proceedings Paper Geology

Macroevolutionary turnover through the Ediacaran transition: ecological and biogeochemical implications

Nicholas J. Butterfield

GLOBAL NEOPROTEROZOIC PETROLEUM SYSTEMS: THE EMERGING POTENTIAL IN NORTH AFRICA (2009)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Environmental determinants of extinction selectivity in the fossil record

Shanan E. Peters

NATURE (2008)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

A chronology of Paleozoic sea-level changes

Bilal U. Haq et al.

SCIENCE (2008)

Review Ecology

Macroevolution of ecosystem engineering, niche construction and diversity

Douglas H. Erwin

TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION (2008)

Review Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Marine diversity through the Phanerozoic: problems and prospects

Andrew B. Smith

JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (2007)

Article Biodiversity Conservation

Genus extinction, origination, and the durations of sedimentary hiatuses

Shanan E. Peters

PALEOBIOLOGY (2006)

Review Multidisciplinary Sciences

The phanerozoic record of global sea-level change

KG Miller et al.

SCIENCE (2005)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Geologic constraints on the macroevolutionary history of marine animals

SE Peters

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2005)

Article Geology

Seawater chemistry and the advent of biocalcification

ST Brennan et al.

GEOLOGY (2004)

Review Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Tightening the Siberian connection to western Laurentia

JW Sears et al.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN (2003)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Estimating the rock volume bias in paleobiodiversity studies

JS Crampton et al.

SCIENCE (2003)

Article Zoology

The Ediacaran biotas in space and time

B Waggoner

INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY (2003)

Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

Determinants of extinction in the fossil record

SE Peters et al.

NATURE (2002)

Article Biology

Large-scale heterogeneity of the fossil record: implications for Phanerozoic biodiversity studies

AB Smith

PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES (2001)