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Science 3 September 1993:
Vol. 261. no. 5126, pp. 1293 - 1298
DOI: 10.1126/science.11539488
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Articles

Science, Vol 261, Issue 5126, 1293-1298
Copyright © 1993 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Calibrating rates of early Cambrian evolution

SA Bowring, JP Grotzinger, CE Isachsen, AH Knoll, SM Pelechaty, and P Kolosov

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.

An explosive episode of biological diversification occurred near the beginning of the Cambrian period. Evolutionary rates in the Cambrian have been difficult to quantify accurately because of a lack of high-precision ages. Currently, uranium-lead zircon geochronology is the most powerful method for dating rocks of Cambrian age. Uranium-lead zircon data from lower Cambrian rocks located in northeast Siberia indicate that the Cambrian period began at approximately 544 million years ago and that its oldest (Manykaian) stage lasted no less than 10 million years. Other data indicate that the Tommotian and Atdabanian stages together lasted only 5 to 10 million years. The resulting compression of Early Cambrian time accentuates the rapidity of both the faunal diversification and subsequent Cambrian turnover.


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