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Science 30 July 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5684, pp. 621 - 622
DOI: 10.1126/science.1098803
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Perspectives

GEOLOGY:
A New Period for the Geologic Time Scale

Andrew H. Knoll, Malcolm R. Walter, Guy M. Narbonne, Nicholas Christie-Blick

The geologic time scale is in need of an update, given that the last modification took place in 1891. In their Perspective, Knoll and colleagues announce the proud addition of a new interval to the geologic time scale, the Ediacaran Period, by the International Union of Geological Sciences.

A. H. Knoll is in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. M. R. Walter is at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. G. M. Narbonne is in the Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada. N. Christie-Blick is in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA. E-mail: aknoll{at}oeb.harvard.edu

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