Abstract The 'Cambrian Explosion'describes the rapid increase in animal diversity and
abundance, as manifest in the fossil record, between~ 540 and 520 million years ago (Ma) …

The recognition that Earth history has been punctuated by supercontinents, the assembly
and breakup of which have profoundly influenced the evolution of the geosphere …

Ichnology is the study of traces created in the substrate by living organisms. This is the first
book to systematically cover basic concepts and applications in both paleobiology and …

The snowball Earth hypothesis predicts that low-latitude glaciation lasted millions of years
while CO2 built up to critical levels to culminate in catastrophic deglaciation in a …

The oxygen content of the Earth's surface environment is thought to have increased in two
broad steps: the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) around the Archean–Proterozoic boundary …

The emergence of the Ediacara biota soon after the Gaskiers glaciation ca. 580 million years
ago (Ma) implies a possible glacial fuse for the evolution of animals. However, the timing of …

U-Pb zircon dates from volcanic ash beds within the Doushantuo Formation (China) indicate
that its deposition occurred between 635 and 551 million years ago. The base records …

Because animals require oxygen, an increase in late-Neoproterozoic oxygen concentrations
has been suggested as a stimulus for their evolution. The iron content of deep-sea …

Glacial deposits of Sturtian and Marinoan age occur in the well-studied Neoproterozoic
successions of northern Namibia, South Australia, and northwestern Canada. In all three …

Abstract The Neoproterozoic era (1,000–542 Myr ago) was an era of climatic extremes and
biological evolutionary developments culminating in the emergence of animals (Metazoa) …