What do Ediacaran fossils represent?
A suite of fossils known as the small shelly fossils are represented in the Ediacaran, most famously by Cloudina a shelly tube-like fossil that often shows evidence of predatory boring, suggesting that, while predation may not have been common in the Ediacaran Period, it was at least present.
How were Ediacaran fossils preserved?
It is thought that the fossils were preserved by virtue of rapid covering by ash or sand, trapping them against the mud or microbial mats on which they lived. However, it is more common to find Ediacaran fossils under sandy beds deposited by storms or high-energy, bottom-scraping ocean currents known as turbidites.
Are the Ediacaran fossils rare explain your answer?
Ediacaran fossils are not only simplistic in form, but fairly rare to find. Both the Ediacaran and Cambrian rock layers are made up of Burgess Shale, and preservation methods for both sections are very similar, so it remains puzzling that there are so few fossils found in Ediacaran rock layers.
Why are the fossils of the Ediacaran period important?
The Ediacaran Period produced some of the earliest known evidence of the evolution of multicellular animals (the metazoans).
What kind of fossils are in the Ediacaran period?
Since Darwin’s time, the fossil history of life on Earth has been pushed back to 3.5 billion years before the present. Most of these fossils are microscopic bacteria and algae. However, in the latest Proterozoic — a time period now called the Ediacaran, or the Vendian, and lasting from about 635 to 542 million years ago* — macroscopic fossils…
Where can you find fossils of soft bodied organisms?
Most of these fossils are microscopic bacteria and algae. However, in the latest Proterozoic — a time period now called the Ediacaran, or the Vendian, and lasting from about 635 to 542 million years ago* — macroscopic fossils of soft-bodied organisms can be found in a few localities around the world, confirming Darwin’s expectations.
How is the Ediacaran biota different from other soft bodied organisms?
As soft-bodied organisms, they would normally not fossilize and, unlike later soft-bodied fossil biota such as the Burgess Shale or Solnhofen Limestone, the Ediacaran biota is not found in a restricted environment subject to unusual local conditions: they were a global phenomenon.
What was life like in the Ediacaran time period?
Most of these fossils are microscopic bacteriaand algae. However, in the latest Proterozoic— a time period now called the Ediacaran, or the Vendian, and lasting from about 635 to 542 million years ago* — macroscopic fossils of soft-bodied organisms can be found in a few localities around the world, confirming Darwin’s expectations. Life
