EARLY LIFE ON EARTH

CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION

CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION, THE UNPARALLELED EMERGENCE OF

ORGANISMS BETWEEN 541 MILLION AND APPROXIMATELY 530
MILLION YEARS AGO AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD.
THE EVENT WAS CHARACTERIZED BY THE APPEARANCE OF MANY OF
THE MAJOR PHYLA (BETWEEN 20 AND 35) THAT MAKE UP MODERN
ANIMAL LIFE. MANY OTHER PHYLA ALSO EVOLVED DURING THIS TIME,
THE GREAT MAJORITY OF WHICH BECAME EXTINCT DURING THE
FOLLOWING 50 TO 100 MILLION YEARS. IRONICALLY, MANY OF THE
MOST SUCCESSFUL MODERN PHYLA (INCLUDING THE CHORDATES,
WHICH ENCOMPASS ALL VERTEBRATES) ARE RARE ELEMENTS IN
CAMBRIAN ASSEMBLAGES; PHYLA THAT INCLUDE THE ARTHROPODS
AND SPONGES CONTAINED THE MOST NUMERICALLY DOMINANT TAXA
(TAXONOMIC GROUPS) DURING THE CAMBRIAN, AND THOSE WERE
THE TAXA THAT BECAME EXTINCT.IDEAS AIMED AT EXPLAINING HOW
ORGANISMS CHANGE, OR EVOLVE, OVER TIME DATE BACK TO
ANAXIMANDER OF MILETUS, A GREEK PHILOSOPHER WHO LIVED IN
THE 500S B.C.E. NOTING THAT HUMAN BABIES ARE BORN HELPLESS,
ANAXIMANDER SPECULATED THAT HUMANS MUST HAVE DESCENDED
FROM SOME OTHER TYPE OF CREATURE WHOSE YOUNG COULD
SURVIVE WITHOUT ANY HELP. HE CONCLUDED THAT THOSE
ANCESTORS MUST BE FISH, SINCE FISH HATCH FROM EGGS AND
IMMEDIATELY BEGIN LIVING WITH NO HELP FROM THEIR PARENTS.
FROM THIS REASONING, HE PROPOSED THAT ALL LIFE BEGAN IN THE
SEA.
NEW EPOCH: THE ANTHROPOCENE

THE ANTHROPOCENE EPOCH IS AN UNOFFICIAL UNIT OF GEOLOGIC

TIME, USED TO DESCRIBE THE MOST RECENT PERIOD IN EARTH’S
HISTORY WHEN HUMAN ACTIVITY STARTED TO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT
IMPACT ON THE PLANET’S CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEMS.
OFFICIALLY, THE CURRENT EPOCH IS CALLED THE HOLOCENE,
WHICH BEGAN 11,700 YEARS AGO AFTER THE LAST MAJOR ICE AGE.
HOWEVER, THE ANTHROPOCENE EPOCH IS AN UNOFFICIAL UNIT OF
GEOLOGIC TIME, USED TO DESCRIBE THE MOST RECENT PERIOD IN
EARTH’S HISTORY WHEN HUMAN ACTIVITY STARTED TO HAVE A
SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE PLANET’S CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEMS.
THE WORD ANTHROPOCENE IS DERIVED FROM THE GREEK WORDS
ANTHROPO, FOR “MAN,” AND CENE FOR “NEW,” COINED AND MADE
POPULAR BY BIOLOGIST EUGENE STORMER AND CHEMIST PAUL
CRUTZEN IN 2000.
SCIENTISTS STILL DEBATE WHETHER THE ANTHROPOCENE IS
DIFFERENT FROM THE HOLOCENE, AND THE TERM HAS NOT BEEN
FORMALLY ADOPTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF GEOLOGICAL
SCIENCES (IUGS), THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION THAT NAMES
AND DEFINES EPOCHS. THE PRIMARY QUESTION THAT THE IUGS
NEEDS TO ANSWER BEFORE DECLARING THE ANTHROPOCENE AN
EPOCH IS IF HUMANS HAVE CHANGED THE EARTH SYSTEM TO THE
POINT THAT IT IS REFLECTED IN THE ROCK STRATA.
TO THOSE SCIENTISTS WHO DO THINK THE ANTHROPOCENE
DESCRIBES A NEW GEOLOGICAL TIME PERIOD, THE NEXT QUESTION
IS, WHEN DID IT BEGIN, WHICH ALSO HAS BEEN WIDELY DEBATED. A
POPULAR THEORY IS THAT IT BEGAN AT THE START OF THE
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION OF THE 1800S, WHEN HUMAN ACTIVITY HAD
A GREAT IMPACT ON CARBON AND METHANE IN EARTH’S
ATMOSPHERE. OTHERS THINK THAT THE BEGINNING OF THE
ANTHROPOCENE SHOULD BE 1945. THIS IS WHEN HUMANS TESTED THE
FIRST ATOMIC BOMB, AND THEN DROPPED ATOMIC BOMBS ON
HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI, JAPAN. THE RESULTING RADIOACTIVE
PARTICLES WERE DETECTED IN SOIL SAMPLES GLOBALLY.
IN 2016, THE ANTHROPOCENE WORKING GROUP AGREED THAT THE
ANTHROPOCENE IS DIFFERENT FROM THE HOLOCENE, AND BEGAN IN
THE YEAR 1950 WHEN THE GREAT ACCELERATION, A DRAMATIC
INCREASE IN HUMAN ACTIVITY AFFECTING THE PLANET, TOOK OFF.

FIRST FOSSIL: DINOSAURS

THE FIRST DINOSAUR TO BE DESCRIBED SCIENTIFICALLY WAS

MEGALOSAURUS. THIS GENUS WAS NAMED IN 1824, BY WILLIAM
BUCKLAND; GIDEON MANTELL (NOT FERDINAND AUGUST VON
RITGEN) ASSIGNED THE SCIENTIFIC TYPE SPECIES NAME,
MEGALOSAURUS BUCKLANDII. BUCKLAND (1784-1856) WAS A BRITISH
FOSSIL HUNTER AND CLERGYMAN WHO DISCOVERED COLLECTED
FOSSILS. (NOTE: THE FIRST DINOSAUR FOUND WAS IGUANODON, BUT
IT WAS NAMED AND DESCRIBED LATER THAN MEGALODON.)
MEGALOSAURUS WAS THE FIRST DINOSAUR EVER DESCRIBED
SCIENTIFICALLY AND FIRST THEROPOD DINOSAUR DISCOVERED (THIS
IS ALL IN HINDSIGHT, BECAUSE THE DINOSAURS HAD NOT YET BEEN
RECOGNIZED AS A SEPARATE TAXONOMIC GROUP - THE WORD
DINOSAUR HADN'T EVEN BEEN INVENTED YET).
THE FIRST DINOSAUR MODELS (LIFE SIZE AND MADE OF CONCRETE)
WERE MADE BY BENJAMIN WATERHOUSE HAWKINS OF ENGLAND IN
1854. THE FIRST DINOSAUR USED FOR AMUSEMENT WAS A LIFE-SIZE
MODEL OF AN IGUANODON (ALSO MADE BY HAWKINS) THAT WAS
USED TO HOUSE A DINNER PARTY FOR SCIENTISTS (INCLUDING
RICHARD OWEN) AT A MAJOR EXHIBITION. THE INVITATIONS TO THE
PARTY WERE SENT ON FAKE PTERODACTYL WINGS. THE PARTY TOOK
PLACE IN LONDON, ENGLAND, IN 1854
TYPES OF FOSSILS

FOSSILS ARE THE REMAINS OR TRACES OF ANCIENT LIFE THAT HAVE

BEEN PRESERVED BY NATURAL PROCESSES. EXAMPLES OF FOSSILS
INCLUDE SHELLS, BONES, STONE IMPRINTS OF ANIMALS OR
MICROBES, EXOSKELETONS, OBJECTS PRESERVED IN AMBER,
PETRIFIED WOOD, COAL, HAIR, OIL, AND DNA REMNANTS. THERE ARE
FIVE TYPES OF FOSSILS:

BODY FOSSILS – SOFT PARTS

THE FIRST TYPE, BODY FOSSILS, ARE THE FOSSILIZED REMAINS OF AN
ANIMAL OR PLANT, LIKE BONES, SHELLS, AND LEAVES. THESE CAN BE
MOULD AND CAST FOSSILS, LIKE MOST OF THE FOSSILIZED
DINOSAUR SKELETONS AND BIG BONES WE SEE, REPLACEMENT
FOSSILS, LIKE PETRIFIED WOOD, OR WHOLE-BODY FOSSILS –
MAMMOTHS CAUGHT IN THE ICE, OR INSECTS TRAPPED IN AMBER.
A MOLD IS AN IMPRINT LEFT BY THE SHELL ON THE ROCK THAT
SURROUNDED IT. THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF MOLDS. THEY ARE:
EXTERNAL MOLD AND INTERNAL MOLDS.

MOLECULAR FOSSILS
MOLECULAR FOSSILS ARE OFTEN REFERRED TO AS BIOMARKERS OR
BIOSIGNATURES AND REPRESENT PRODUCTS OF CELLULAR
BIOSYNTHESIS THAT ARE INCORPORATED INTO SEDIMENTS AND
EVENTUALLY INTO A ROCK. MANY OF THESE CHEMICALS BECOME
ALTERED IN KNOWN WAYS AND CAN BE STABLE FOR BILLIONS OF
YEARS.
TRACE FOSSILS
TRACE FOSSILS ARE MARKS LEFT BY AN ANIMAL OR PLANT THAT HAS
MADE AN IMPRESSION. THESE FOSSILS INCLUDE NESTS, BURROWS,
FOOTPRINTS OR ANY OTHER MARKINGS OF THE ANIMAL’S TIME ON
THE EARTH. THE STRUCTURE OF THE ANIMAL OR PLANT REMAINS AS
A MINERAL FORM. THE COLOURS OF THE MINERALS THAT REPLACE
THE FORM CAN BE DAZZLING. SOMETIMES THEY ARE MADE INTO ART
AND JEWELLERY.

CARBON FOSSILS
ALL LIVING THINGS CONTAIN AN ELEMENT I.E. CARBON. WHEN AN
ORGANISM DIES AND IS BURIED IN SEDIMENT, THE MATERIALS THAT
MAKE THE ORGANISM BREAK DOWN AND EVENTUALLY ONLY THE
CARBON REMAINS. THE THIN LAYER OF CARBON LEFT BEHIND CAN
SHOW AN ORGANISM’S DELICATE PARTS LIKE LEAVES OR PLANT E.G.
FERN FOSSIL 300 MILLION YEARS OLD.

PSEUDOFOSSILS
SOMETIMES WATERY SOLUTIONS OF VARIOUS MINERALS SPEED
THROUGH THE SEDIMENTS AND IT TAKES THE SHAPE OF SOME PLANT
PART OR ANIMAL. THEIR STUDY SHOWS THAT THEY ARE NEITHER
PLANTS NOR ANIMALS. SUCH FOSSILS ARE CALLED PSEUDOFOSSILS.
6 WAYS OF FOSSILIZATION

UNALTERED PRESERVATION
SMALL ORGANISM OR PART TRAPPED IN AMBER, HARDENED PLANT
SAP.

PERMINERALIZATION/ PETRIFICATION
THE ORGANIC CONTENTS OF BONE AND WOOD ARE REPLACED WITH
SILICA, CALCITE OR PYRITE, FORMING A ROCK-LIKE FOSSIL

REPLACEMENT
HARD PARTS ARE DISSOLVED AND REPLACED BY OTHER MINERALS,
LIKE CALCITE, SILICA, PYRITE, OR IRON.

CARBONIZATION OR COALIFICATION
COALIFICATION INVOLVES THE REMOVAL OF WATER AND CARBON
DIOXIDE, A REDUCTION IN OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN CONTENTS, AN
INCREASE IN CARBON CONTENT, AND THE FORMATION, ENTRAPMENT
(ADSORPTION) OF METHANE AND ITS RELEASE (FIREDAMP).

RECRYSTALLIZATION
A PROCESS BY WHICH THE MINERALS MAKING UP THE ORIGINAL
SHELL OR BONE OF A FOSSIL CHANGE INTO A DIFFERENT MINERAL
MADE OF THE SAME CHEMICAL COMPONENTS.

AUTHIGENIC PRESERVATION
AUTHIGENIC PRESERVATION REPLICATES SURFACE FORM OR OUTLINE
(MOLDS AND CASTS) PRIOR TO DISTORTION BY COMPRESSION AND,
DEPENDING ON CEMENTATION AND TIMING, MAY INTERGRADE WITH
FOSSILS THAT HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO COMPRESSION.
DATING FOSSIL: RELATIVE DATING
RELATIVE AGE DATING IS USED TO DETERMINE WHETHER ONE ROCK
LAYER (OR THE FOSSILS IN IT) ARE OLDER OR YOUNGER THAN
ANOTHER BASE ON THEIR RELATIVE POSITION: YOUNGER ROCKS ARE
POSITIONED ON TOP OF OLDER ROCKS.

DATING FOSSIL: ABSOLUTE DATING

ABSOLUTE DATING METHODS DETERMINE HOW MUCH TIME HAS
PASSED SINCE ROCKS FORMED BY MEASURING THE RADIOACTIVE
DECAY OF ISOTOPES OR THE EFFECTS OF RADIATION ON THE
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE OF MINERALS. PALEOMAGNETISM MEASURES
THE ANCIENT ORIENTATION OF THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD TO
HELP DETERMINE THE AGE OF ROCKS.