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International Symposium on the Ediacaran - Cambrian Transition (ISECT) 2017

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Peer-reviewed

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Article

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Authors

Liu, Alex G 
Matthews, Jack J 
McIlroy, Duncan 
Narbonne, Guy M 
Landing, Ed 

Abstract

Research into the long-recognized ‘Cambrian Explosion’ of animal life (e.g., Lipps and Signor, 1992; Briggs, 2015) has, in recent decades, increasingly sought to resolve the interplay between evolutionary, geochemical and environmental changes that occurred over an extended Ediacaran to Cambrian transitional interval. This wider interval encompasses several significant geological events, including large-scale glaciations, supercontinental reorganization, global marine transgression, and perturbations in oxygen levels, other isotope proxies, and UV-B radiation (summarised in Narbonne et al., 2012; Meert et al., 2016). These events occurred contemporaneously with evolutionary developments including the radiation of macroscopic eukaryotes, the appearance of the extant animal phyla, the onset of burrowing and biological sediment processing, and the evolution of biomineralization (e.g., Kouchinsky et al., 2012; Mángano and Buatois, 2016; Cunningham et al., 2017). Biological and geological phenomena are widely considered to have been linked during the Ediacaran to Cambrian transition (e.g., Canfield et al., 2007; Sperling et al., 2013; Boyle et al., 2014; Herringshaw et al., 2017; Shields, 2017), and their interaction across this interval is an area of considerable scientific interest. Stratigraphic correlation and subdivision of Ediacaran and Cambrian sections worldwide has been identified as a key objective in order to better understand the co-evolution of the Earth and life systems, and in recent years there have been substantial advances in discussions relating to this challenge (Narbonne et al., 2012; Peng et al., 2012; Landing et al., 2013b; Babcock et al., 2014; Xiao et al., 2016).

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Journal ISSN

0705-3797

Volume Title

41

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Sponsorship
Natural Environment Research Council (NE/L011409/2)