Cambrian Explosion
Cambrian Explosion
From approximately \(\text{580}\)–\(\text{500}\) million years ago, a large diversity of creatures appeared. This event is called the Cambrian Explosion, and almost all of the animals alive today can trace their beginnings to this rapid expansion of diversity. The Cambrian Explosion was the relatively rapid appearance over millions of years of most of the main animal groups found in the fossil record.
Watch this fascinating video about some of the interesting organisms that lived after the Cambrian Explosion and left beautiful fossil remains.
In Cambrian times there was no life on land and little or none in freshwater — the sea was still very much the centre of living activity. From \(\text{580}\)–\(\text{540}\) million years ago, oxygen began to accumulate in the atmosphere, allowing for the formation of the ozone layer which blocked the damaging rays of the ultraviolet light from the sun, permitting the colonisation of land.
The Cambrian explosion was just the first period of the Paleozoic era. It is famous because of the sudden explosion in diverse morphologies, and the fact that is "sowed the seeds" for the continued evolution that occurred throughout the Paleozoic.
This lesson is part of:
History of Life on Earth