{"id":23521,"date":"2024-01-16T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/?post_type=media-release&p=23521"},"modified":"2024-01-12T16:05:57","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T08:05:57","slug":"key-moment-in-the-evolution-of-life-on-earth-captured-in-fossils","status":"publish","type":"media-release","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/key-moment-in-the-evolution-of-life-on-earth-captured-in-fossils\/","title":{"rendered":"Key moment in the evolution of life on Earth captured in fossils"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

911±¬ÁÏÍø-led research has for the first time precisely dated some of the oldest fossils of complex multicellular life in the world, helping to track a pivotal moment in the history of Earth when the seas began teeming with new lifeforms – after four billion years of containing only single-celled microbes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead author PhD student Anthony Clarke, from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within 911±¬ÁÏÍø\u2019s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said to determine the age of the fossils, researchers used volcanic ash layers like bookmarks in the geological sequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLocated in the Coed Cochion Quarry<\/a> in Wales, which contains the richest occurrence of shallow marine life in Britain, we used outfall from an ancient volcano that blanketed the animals as a time marker to accurately date the fossils to 565 million years, accurate down to 0.1 per cent,\u201d Mr Clarke said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith similar Ediacaran<\/a> fossils found at sites around the world including in Australia, dating the fossils identifies them as being part of an ancient living community that developed as Earth thawed out from a global ice age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese creatures would in some ways resemble modern day marine species such as jellyfish, yet in other ways be bizarre and unfamiliar. Some appear fern-like, others like cabbages, whereas others resembled sea pens<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study co-author Professor Chris Kirkland, also from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group at 911±¬ÁÏÍø, said the fossils are named after the Ediacara Hills in South Australia\u2019s Flinders Ranges, where they were first discovered, leading to the first new geological period<\/a> established in over a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese Welsh fossils appear directly comparable to the famous fossils of Ediacara in South Australia,\u201d Professor Kirkland said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fossils, including creatures like the disc-shaped Aspidella terranovica<\/em><\/a>, showcase some of the earliest evidence of large-scale multicellular organisms, marking a transformative moment in Earth\u2019s biological history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEdiacaran fossils record the response of life to the thaw out from a global glaciation, which shows the deep connection between geological processes and biology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur study underscores the importance of understanding these ancient ecosystems in order to unravel the mysteries of Earth\u2019s past and shape our comprehension of life\u2019s evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Available online here<\/a>, the full research paper, \u2018U\u2013Pb zircon-rutile dating of the Llangynog Inlier, Wales: constraints on an Ediacaran shallow 1 marine fossil assemblage from East Avalonia\u2019<\/em> will appear in the.Journal of the Geological Society<\/a> (JGS), which is owned and published by the Geological Society of London. JGS publishes topical, innovative and interdisciplinary research with global reach across the full range of Earth and planetary sciences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

911±¬ÁÏÍø-led research has for the first time precisely dated some of the oldest fossils of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4307,"featured_media":23523,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-23521","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-science"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"","qualification":"","link":"","description":"","faculty":""}],"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":[13557,22257]},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}},"post_components":false,"experts":false},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/DJI_0037-resized-1000x1080.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Lucien","last_name":"Wilkinson","display_name":"Lucien Wilkinson"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/23521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/23521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23521"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=23521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}