Discovering our predecessors:

The history of life in rocks

Hydrothermal
H d th l vents
t and
d the
th origin
i i off life
lif

Investigating the origin of life in ancient rocks

The Cambrian explosion

Dinosaurs and the K/T boundary

Extinctions and what they tell us

fc02.deviantart.net/fs51/f/2009/275/7/8/Paleozoic_Era_Spore_by_pokequaza.png

GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE MNEMONICS

urious ld cientists
iscover reatures &
lants o ustify ertain
imeless uestions

appy eople lay usic,

usic
thers at izza

3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/haywardfault/images/timescale_small.jpg
www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfrbj/geoltime.html

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 Latin: Cambria (Adam Sedgwick)

current eon in the geologic timescale, during which

abundant
b d t animali l life
lif has
h existed
i t d

Cambrian Explosion

appearance of most major phyla accompanied by major

diversification of other organisms, including animals,
phytoplankton, and calcimicrobes

media.smithsonianmag.com/images/520*340/Cambian-Period-Burgess-Shale-520.jpg

CAMBRIAN PERIOD

Burgess Shale
most famous fossil site of the Cambrian; represents one of the most diverse
and well-preserved fossil localities in the world

composed of more than 140 species in 119 genera: well preserved soft-bodied
animals dominantly arthropods (+ worms, crinoids sea cucumbers, chordates)
and benthic (bottom-dwelling) organisms
palaeo.gly.bris.acc.uk/palaeofiles/lagerstatten
/Burgess/gallery.html

Artist’s reconstruction of the Burgess Shale fauna

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 CAMBRIAN PERIOD
Burgess Shale
During this period, life was restricted to the world's oceans. The
land was barren, uninhabited, and subject to erosion; these
geologic conditions led to mudslides, where sediment
periodically rolled into the seas and buried marine organisms
organisms. At
the Burgess locality, sediment was deposited in a deep-water
basin adjacent to an enormous algal reef with a vertical
escarpment several hundred meters high.

Break-up of Rodinia

www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cambrian/burgess.html
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION
Burgess Shale
Canadian Rocky Mountains; discovered by Charles D. Walcott of
the Smithsonian Institution in 1909

Walcott Quarry, of the Burgess shale

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cambrian/burgess/walcottquarry.jpg
/thumb/7/7f/Charles_Walcott.jpg/225px-
Charles_Walcott.jpg

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION
Burgess Shale
reinvestigated by Alberto Simonetta,
Simonetta, and Harry B. Whittington
and colleagues in the 1960’s

revealed that the fauna represented were much more diverse

and unusual than Walcott had recognized

many of the animals present had bizarre anatomical features

and only the slightest resemblance to other known animals

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

BURGESS SHALE FAUNA

Marrella
a small "arthropod" somewhat reminiscent of a trilobite, but with
several distinctive features

one of the most common fossils in the Burgess Shale, and was
probably the first soft-
soft-bodied organism noticed by Walcott
Marrella splendens

tabla.geo.ucalgary.ca/~macrae/Burgess_Shale/Marrella1_small.gif
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 BURGESS SHALE FAUNA
Opabinia
has five eyes and a snout like a vacuum cleaner hose

Opabinia regalis

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Opabini
a_smithsonian.JPG/800px-Opabinia_smithsonian.JPG

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Opabinia_BW2.jpg

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

BURGESS SHALE FAUNA

Anomalocaris
largest soft-
soft-bodied predator (0.5 m length) among the Burgess
fauna

was probably a swimmer, although it may have also rested on the

seafloor at times

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 BURGESS SHALE FAUNA
Anomalocaris

Walcott excavated at Burgess Pass an animal remain which he called Peytoia

nathorsti and which he believed was a Cnidarian, or jellyfish. Early reconstruction
shows it floating like a pineapple ring in the water. Peytoia was finally shown to
represent a mouthpart of Anomalocaris.
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/palaeontologie/Stuff/N19A.JPG
Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

BURGESS SHALE FAUNA

Hallucigenia
bizarre and dream-
dream-like appearance

seven pairs of walking spines

Hallucigenia

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Hallucig
eniaSparsa-ROM-June11-10.jpg/800px-HallucigeniaSparsa- upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Hallucigenia_Arti
ROM-June11-10.jpg st%27s_Rendering.jpg

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 BURGESS SHALE FAUNA
Wiwaxia
slug--like animals covered in rows of overlapping armor plates, with
slug
two rows of longer spines projecting upwards

Wiwaxia Wiwaxia corrugata

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Wiwaxia upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Wiwaxia_NT.jpg
_Smithsonian.JPG/796px-Wiwaxia_Smithsonian.JPG

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

BURGESS SHALE FAUNA

Orthrozanclus
had long spines and a fairly slim, roughly oval body that tapered
towards the rear; distinctly convex on top but was surrounded by a
flatter rim
Orthrozanclus reburrus

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Orthr
elementy.ru/images/news/orthrozanclus_reburrus_burgess_shal ozanclus_reburrus_E.jpg/588px-
e_600.jpg Orthrozanclus_reburrus_E.jpg

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 BURGESS SHALE FAUNA
Nectocaris
Ancient Greek: νηκτόν nekton,
nekton, swimmer; καρίς karis,
karis, shrimp; πτέρυξ
pteryx,, wing
pteryx

resembles either a crustacean with fins or a vertebrate with a shell

a free-
free-swimming, predatory or scavenging organism, possibly occupying
a niche similar to the arrow worms

Nectocaris pteryx

logs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/files/2010/05/Nectocaris_fossil.jpg

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01
/Nectocaris_pteryx.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

BURGESS SHALE FAUNA

Pikaia
represent the earlier known primitive chordates

Pikaia gracilens

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Pikaia_Smithso
nian.JPG

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 BURGESS SHALE FAUNA
Ottoia
A priapulid worm that was carnivorous, and probably lived in a
burrow; also called “penis worms”

One of the largest and most abundant worms in the Burgess Shale
Ottoia prolifica

64.19.142.10/upload.wikimedia.org/wikip
64.19.142.12/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/ edia/commons/thumb/1/10/Ottoia_burro
d5/OttoiaBurgess.jpg/726px-OttoiaBurgess.jpg wing.jpg/420px-Ottoia_burrowing.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

PALEOZOIC FOSSILS

Index Fossil
guide fossil / indicator fossil / zone fossil

A fossil that identifies and dates the strata in which it is

found.

Any fossil taxon that combines morphologic

distinctiveness with relatively common occurrence and
that has a broad, even worldwide geographic range and
a narrow or restricted stratigraphic range.
range

The shorter the lifespan of a species, the more precisely

different sediments can be correlated.

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 INDEX FOSSILS
The best index fossils include swimming or floating
organisms that evolved rapidly and were distributed widely.

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Index_fossils.gif

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

CAMBRIAN INDEX FOSSILS

Trilobites
a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropod

thought to have originated in present day Siberia, with subsequent

distribution and radiation from this location
Paradoxides

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/BLW_Trilobite_%28Paradoxides_sp.%29.jpg/800px-
BLW_Trilobite_%28Paradoxides_sp.%29.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 CAMBRIAN TRILOBITES

Olenoides serratus Acadoparadoxides Alokistocare harrisi

- largest of several briareus Middle Cambrian;
species of trilobites Early Cambrian; length : 1.9 inches
found in the Burgess length:
Shale, some of 18 inches
which have been
preserved with soft
www.dc.peachnet.edu/~pgore/myphotos/fossils/trilo3.gif
appendages tabla.geo.ucalgary.ca/~macrae/Burgess_Shale/Olenoides_small.gif
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

PHANEROZOIC EON
What is so remarkable about the
Vendian and Cambrian events?

Complex and mobile creatures appeared in the rock record in

a short span of geologic time.
rising oxygen levels?
absence of predators?
genetic innovation?
artifact of the fossil record?

Animals have differentiation of cells, each with distinct form

and function. This was not present in earlier unicellular life
which existed for most of the first billion years of earth
history.

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 CAMBRIAN PERIOD

Cambrian Explosion debate

(1) Occurrence of a mass diversification of complex

organisms over a relatively short period of time
during the early Cambrian

(2) Cause of such rapid change

((3)) Implications for the origin

g and evolution of
animals

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

media-1.web.britannica.com/eb-media//98/398-050-C8C36AE1.jpg

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 FOSSIL RECORD

Celtic tribe of the Ordovices (Charles Lapworth, 1979)

diverse marine invertebrates (e.g., trilobites, brachiopods)

appearance of coral fossils, but reef ecosystem is

dominated by algae and sponges

jawless armored fish became common (ostracoderms

(ostracoderms –
appeared during the Late Cambrian)

colonization of land: cells, cuticle and spores of early land

plants (first non-
non-vascular plants)

www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/link/images/hist_img_03_ordo.jpg
 ORDOVICIAN FAUNA

Orthoceras (Nautiloid) Ostracoderm

among the largest predators in the Ordovician Arandaspis prionotolepis

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Orthoceras_BW
.jpg

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Arandaspis_prionotolepis_fossil.jpg/800px-Arandaspis_prionotolepis_fossil.jpg
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Arandaspis_NT.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

Celtic tribe of Wales, the Silures (Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, 1830)

Widespread radiation of crinoids and brachiopods

Time of major reef building → oldest known coral reefs

(tabulate, rugose
rugose,, stromatoporoids)
stromatoporoids)

First jawed fish (acanthodians in the Lower Silurian); Jawless

armored fish became abundant; First known freshwater (non(non--
marine) fish fossil

First land animals (arthropods; millipedes are the oldest land

animals)

First vascular plants and widespread non-

non-vascular plants

www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/link/images/hist_img_03_ordo.jpg
 SILURIAN FAUNA
Acanthodians Eurypterid (sea scorpion)
first bony fish with bony scales and movable Eurypterus remipes
jaws first eurypterid fossil discovered and the state
fossil of New York

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Silurianfishes_nt
upload wikimedia org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Silurianfishes nt
m_1905_smit_1929.gif

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Eurypterus
_Paleoart.jpg/800px-Eurypterus_Paleoart.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

Devon, England

Abundant acanthodians; placoderms (heavily-

(heavily-armored jawed
fish) also became abundant; Cartilaginous and bony fish also
evolved

Extinction of ostracoderms at the end of Devonian; Coral reefs:

tabulate and rugose corals

Many new kinds of insects (e.g., scorpions, flightless insects)

Amphibians on land: Ichthyostega

Diverse seedless vascular plant flora (first forests); First seed

plants (seed ferns: Late Devonian)
moldychum.typepad.com/moldy_chum/images/2007/08/08/firefoxscreensnapz004.jpg
 DEVONIAN FAUNA

Dunkleosteus trilobite
one of the largest armoured fishes to ever roam
the planet

64.19.142.13/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Du
nkleosteus_BW.jpg
64.19.142.11/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/
ea/PhacopidDevonian.jpg/632px-
PhacopidDevonian.jpg_hyuncompressed

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

DEVONIAN FAUNA
Eusthenopteron
Crossopterygians (lobe-finned fish)

Ichthyostega
Oldest amphibians

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 Latin: carbo, coal
Lower = Mississippian | Upper = Pennsylvanian

Rich deposits of coal;

Coal swamps with flora of seedless vascular plants (club mosses,

horsetails and ferns) and gymnosperms

First winged insects (some very large)

First reptiles
p (evolution
( of the amniote egg)
gg)

Amphibians became common

Armored fish became extinct

Gshelia sp. ((rugose

rugose coral)
www.naturenorth.com/dragonfly/DOM/Images/03_carbonif.jpg

CARBONIFEROUS FAUNA
Giant insects
↑ moisture in the environment

↑ oxygen concentration in the Earth

Earth's
s atmosphere
Meganeura Pulmonoscorpius
max. wingspan: 75 cm max. length: 70 cm

2.bp.blogspot.com/_DnzbFhUomqw/TTKD7leZ1jI/AAAAAAAAA
Co/sJs_drCg1Y0/s1600/pulmonoscorpius.jpg

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 CARBONIFEROUS FAUNA
Pederpes Hylonomus
most primitive Mississippian tetrapod earliest sauropsid reptile

64.19.142.12/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ 64.19.142.12/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Hyl
fb/Pederpes22small.jpg/800px-Pederpes22small.jpg onomus_BW.jpg

Archaeothyris
Tetrapods a very early mammal-like reptile and the
oldest undisputed synapsid
Petrolacosaurus
first diapsid

64.19.142.12/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Petr 64.19.142.10/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Ar
olacosaurus_BW.jpg chaeothyris_BW.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

Perm Krai in Russia (Roderick Murchison, 1841)

Extensive reefs were built by sponges, bryozoans, and brachiopods instead of

corals like today
Ammonoids, nautiloids (both Nautilus relatives), and fish comprised the
nektons (animals that live in the water column)

Gymnosperms diverse and abundant

Many new species of insects

Amphibians and reptiles dominant

Atmospheric levels of oxygen reached modern-

modern-day values

Formation of the supercontinent Pangaea

Largest mass extinction event at the end

www.sleepingdogstudios.com/Network/Earth%20Science/ES_13.2B_files/slide0028_image034.jpg
 PERMIAN PERIOD
The Earth 255 million years ago before the end of the Permian

Continents were joined together as the supercontinent Pangaea

Large Panthalassa (ancient Pacific) Ocean and the Tethys Ocean
Vast deserts covered western Pangaea during the Permian as reptiles spread
across the face of the supercontinent
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

PERMIAN LIFE

mines.unr.edu/able/GEOL100Spring/GEOL%20100-23/img006.GIF
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 PERMO-TRIASSIC EXTINCTION

The most extensive extinction event recorded in

paleontology:
90--95% of fossil organisms became extinct,
90
70% of all land organisms

The only known mass extinction of insects

Several hypotheses for extinction:

www.bbc.co.uk/nature/images/ic/credit/640x395/p/pe/permian-triassic_extinction_event/permian-triassic_extinction_event_1.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

PERMO-TRIASSIC EXTINCTION

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Extinction_Intensity.svg/577px-Extinction_Intensity.svg.png
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 PERMO-TRIASSIC EXTINCTION
Trilobites
Segmented animals with exoskeleton composed of chitin or
calcium carbonate, with jointed limbs

p
An arthropod (insects,
( , crabs,, spiders
p etc.))

Very diverse (many species) during the Paleozoic

Kainops invius

64.19.142.13/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Kainops_invius_lateral_and_ventra
l.JPG/688px-Kainops_invius_lateral_and_ventral.JPG
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

PERMO-TRIASSIC EXTINCTION
Rugose corals
An extinct group of corals that were abundant in Middle Ordovician
to Late Permian seas

y rugosans
Solitary g are often referred to as "horn corals" because of
their characteristic shape; some reached nearly a meter in length

Formed large colonies

Grewingkia canadensis

64.19.142.10/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/RugosaOrdovician.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 PERMO-TRIASSIC EXTINCTION
Tabulate corals
Tabulate corals were common from the Ordovician to the Permian

Tabulate corals receive their name from horizontal internal

partitions
p known as tabulae

Most tabulates were colonial, with some forming substantial reefs

Syringoporidae

64.19.142.12/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Syringoporid.jpg/800px-
Syringoporid.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

PERMO-TRIASSIC EXTINCTION
Fusulinids
Latin: spindle (rice-shaped)

large foraminifera (protozoans), exclusively living in clear offshore

water

secrete a hard skeleton and grow to an amazing size for one-celled

organisms
Triticites

www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/ancient/gifs/fusulinid.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 PERMO-TRIASSIC EXTINCTION
Crinoids
Also known as feather stars (without stalk) or sea lilies (with stalk) that
live attached to the bottom, and filter food particles from the currents
flowing past them

N ith abundant
Neither b d t or ffamiliar
ili organisms
i today
t d

Modern forms live in deep water and are therefore difficult for the average
underwater enthusiast to observe
Agaricocrinus americanus

64.19.142.11/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe
dia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Agaricocrinus_a
mericanus_Carboniferous_Indiana.jpg/598
px-
Agaricocrinus_americanus_Carboniferous
_Indiana.jpg

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks

PERMO-TRIASSIC EXTINCTION
Blastoids
Extinct group of echinoderms (sea urchins, starfish, etc.) that
exhibit 5-fold symmetry

p
Stalked suspension feeders,, filtering
g food particles
p out of the
water column
Pentremites symmetricus

fossilspictures.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/pentremites- luirig.altervista.org/cpm/albums/ha
symmetricus-blastoid-01b.jpg eckel2/Pentremites-sp_-568.jpg
N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 Latin: trias, triad (Friedrich Von Alberti , 1834)

The seas are repopulated by invertebrates that survived the

Permian extinction event

Mollusks (bivalves) became the dominant aquatic invertebrates

First dinosaurs; flying and marine reptiles also evolved

Evolution of modern corals

First mammals (evolved from mammal-

mammal-like reptiles called
therapsids;; Late Permian)
therapsids

Fragmentation of Pangaea begins in Late Triassic

images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/009/cache/fleeing-nothosaurs_955_600x450.jpg

TRIASSIC FAUNA
(amphibian) (turtle)
Metoposaurus diagnosticus kraselovi Odontochelys semitestacea

64.19.142.12/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/
6/6b/Metoposaurus_diagnosticus_kraselovi_1DB.jpg/800px-
Metoposaurus_diagnosticus_kraselovi_1DB.jpg

(dinosaur)
Coelophysis

64.19.142.12/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3
/39/Odontochelys_BW.jpg/578px-Odontochelys_BW.jpg

64.19.142.10/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thum
b/1/1a/Coelophysis_Animatronics_model_NHM2.jpg/800px-
Coelophysis_Animatronics_model_NHM2.jpg

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks
 Latin: juria, forest

Dinosaurs became dominant on land (time of giant sauropod

dinosaurs)

Ammonites and belemnoid cephalopods increase in diversity

Appearance of rudist bivalves

Scleractinian coral reefs became common

First birds (although may have evolved in the Late Triassic)

First flowering plants (Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous)

Fragmentation of Pangaea continues

realdinosaurpictures.com/wp-content/uploads/wallpapers/Jurassic-Period-Wallpaper-800x600.jpg

JURASSIC LIFE

www.shinegame.com/3d-screensavers/dinosaurs-3d-screensaver/b3.jpg

N.T. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth Discovering our predecessors: The history of life in rocks