What major event occurred during the Cambrian explosion?

The Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation was an event approximately 541 million years ago in the Cambrian period when practically all major animal phyla started appearing in the fossil record. It lasted for about 13 – 25 million years and resulted in the divergence of most modern metazoan phyla.

What is the Cambrian explosion and why is it important to animal evolution?

The Cambrian period, part of the Paleozoic era, produced the most intense burst of evolution ever known. The Cambrian Explosion saw an incredible diversity of life emerge, including many major animal groups alive today. Among them were the chordates, to which vertebrates (animals with backbones) such as humans belong.

What was the main cause of the Cambrian explosion?

Oxygen fluctuations stalled life on Earth Given the importance of oxygen for animals, researchers suspected that a sudden increase in the gas to near-modern levels in the ocean could have spurred the Cambrian explosion.

What significant event occurred during the Cambrian Explosion in Earth’s history quizlet?

The Cambrian explosion was an event approximately 541 million years ago in the Cambrian period when most major animal phyla appeared in the fossil record. It lasted for about 20-25 million years. It resulted in the divergence of most modern metazoan phyla.

What is meant by 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.

Why is it called the Cambrian explosion quizlet?

The Cambrian Period marks an important point in the history of life on Earth; it is the time when most of the major groups of animals first appear in the fossil record. This event is sometimes called the “Cambrian Explosion,” because of the relatively short time over which this diversity of forms appears.

What is the Cambrian explosion in biology?

What is the Cambrian Explosion The cambrian explosion was an event that happened roughly 541 million years ago where almost all major animal phyla began to appear in the fossil records. The event lasted for about 13 to 25 million years and resulted in the divergence of most animal phyla. 2.

How did evolution change during the Cambrian era?

The changes during the Cambrian Era did not occur over decades, centuries, or even thousands of years; they occurred over millions of years—plenty of time for evolutionary change. However, for millions of years beforehand, body plans of animals had remained relatively constant.

What is an example of a Cambrian fossil?

Two famous examples are the Burgess Shale in Canada, and the Chengjiang in China. 1 Despite the claims of some, the Cambrian was not the beginning of multicellular animal life; the latter has a fossil record that extends back at least 30 million years earlier. 2

What are the most significant lagerstätten of the Cambrian Period?

The most significant Cambrian lagerstätten are the early Cambrian Maotianshan shale beds of Chengjiang ( Yunnan, China) and Sirius Passet ( Greenland ); the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale ( British Columbia, Canada ); and the late Cambrian Orsten ( Sweden) fossil beds.