Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
5-1-2024
Publication Title
Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Abstract
The beginning of the Phanerozoic saw two biological events that set the stage for all life that was to come: (a) the Cambrian Explosion (the appearance of most marine invertebrate phyla) and (b) the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE), the subsequent substantial accumulation of marine biodiversity. Here, we examine the current state of understanding of marine environments and ecosystems from the late Ediacaran through the Early Ordovician, which spans this biologically important interval. Through a compilation and review of the existing geochemical, mineralogical, sedimentological, and fossil records, we argue that this interval was one of sustained low and variable marine oxygen levels that both led to animal extinction and fostered biodiversification events throughout the Cambrian and Early Ordovician. Therefore, marine ecosystems of this interval existed on the edge—with enough oxygen to sustain them but with the perennial risk of environmental stressors that could overwhelm them.
Keywords
redox, authigenesis, ecosystems, Cambrian explosion, GOBE, extinction
Volume
5210.1146/annurev-earth-031621-070316
DOI
10.1146/annurev-earth-031621-070316
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights
Licensed to Smith College and distributed CC-BY under the Smith College Faculty Open Access Policy.
Recommended Citation
Pruss, Sara and Gill, Benjamin C., "Life on the Edge: The Cambrian Marine Realm and Oxygenation" (2024). Geosciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/geo_facpubs/214
Comments
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.