PRE-CAMBRIAN Fossils

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

Is There any clear ideas or fossil evidence for life in some form or other in the Pre- Cambrian period ?.

 

I have recently read of half plant/ half animal Ediacaran fossils being found in Mexico. (Supercontinent by Ted Nield 2007 ). Has anyone any idea what they looked like , and were they turbid mud dwellers or what. Was there any other life, Algal slime or creeping things ?

 

Which part of the 4,000,000,000 years of Pre-Cambrian period did these life forms exist in ?

 

I am trying to Paint these " things " so even a verbal description would be appreciated .

[iDevonian]

Yes of course. The ediacara biota.

 

You should also specify, if youre interested in fossils of animals that are from the pre cambrian, or if youre interested in just fossils in general. The oldest fossils date long long before the cambrian. The ediacara biota existed during the ediacaran period. Their fossils consist of...things that would be expected. Arthropods, cnidarians, stromatolites, different types burrowing organisms, like worms etc. Many of the organisms were just...very very simple in structure. No complex digestive system or anything like that. Just simple animals that just kind of hang out like plants. However, complex systems existed as well, marking pre cursors to cambrian arthropods and various invertebrates. Organisms like algae have fossils dating back...over 3.5 billion years ago. So yes, they were present prior to the cambrian as well. Id recommend looking at wikipedia. On wiki pages, for living organisms, there is a geologic timescale on the page that you can reference.

 

https://en.wikipedia.../Ediacara_biota

 

https://en.wikipedia...ki/Stromatolite

 

https://nonfinito.fi...77-ediacara.jpg

Edited November 5, 2012 by iDevonian

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

Yes of course. The ediacara biota.

 

You should also specify, if youre interested in fossils of animals that are from the pre cambrian, or if youre interested in just fossils in general.

 

I am interested in all the fossils up through the whole geological table to the assent of man. I am using part of my retirement to research the astronomical and geological history of .... the whole shebang .... Living as I do in Devon England, am well placed to go and visit fossil and rock strata sites along the Jurassic coast ( Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, & Tertiary rock outcrops , fossils etc ) Wales is near by with all the rest ( Ordovician , Silurian , Cambrian etc ) . I also flip to Italy and back Umbria and have visited the Iridium layer Near Gubbio ( re extinction event 65 MYA )

 

I am currently attempting to use my newly developed painting whatever , to convert the whole " Shebang " story to illustration. I seem to have bitten off a big slice of pie. I am currently working on the fossil record as a whole, finding the Pre- Cambrian not so easy. However I am interested in the whole Geological table .

 

I will check out your sites and see how I get on . Thanks !

 

( Perhaps you have some contact with Devon , the Devonian period, Red Sandstone or whatever with a Forum Name of " iDevonian " ?

 

.

Edited November 6, 2012 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[iDevonian]

I am interested in all the fossils up through the whole geological table to the assent of man. I am using part of my retirement to research the astronomical and geological history of .... the whole shebang .... Living as I do in Devon England, am well placed to go and visit fossil and rock strata sites along the Jurassic coast ( Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, & Tertiary rock outcrops , fossils etc ) Wales is near by with all the rest ( Ordovician , Silurian , Cambrian etc ) . I also flip to Italy and back Umbria and have visited the Iridium layer Near Gubbio ( re extinction event 65 MYA )

 

I am currently attempting to use my newly developed painting whatever , to convert the whole " Shebang " story to illustration. I seem to have bitten off a big slice of pie. I am currently working on the fossil record as a whole, finding the Pre- Cambrian not so easy. However I am interested in the whole Geological table .

 

I will check out your sites and see how I get on . Thanks !

 

( Perhaps you have some contact with Devon , the Devonian period, Red Sandstone or whatever with a Forum Name of " iDevonian " ?

 

.

 

Well, If there is any place to go, if youre interested in experiencing the fossil record first hand. It is to the burgess shale in british columbia. I think its great that you have seen the k-t boundary.

 

To get an idea of the entire fossil succession, you will just need time. The fossil record is very detailed with countless fossils. The more time you spend looking into it, the more detailed your view will become. Good luck.

 

And yes, well...I have worked with rocks of just about all ages (except really ancient Hadean rocks). The devonian with its tetrapod transitionals, in my opinion is an interesting time. The fossils are quite impressive.

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

Well, If there is any place to go, if youre interested in experiencing the fossil record first hand. It is to the burgess shale in british columbia. I think its great that you have seen the k-t boundary.

 

To get an idea of the entire fossil succession, you will just need time. The fossil record is very detailed with countless fossils. The more time you spend looking into it, the more detailed your view will become. Good luck.

 

And yes, well...I have worked with rocks of just about all ages (except really ancient Hadean rocks). The devonian with its tetrapod transitionals, in my opinion is an interesting time. The fossils are quite impressive.

 

Thank you .

 

In the immediate I am looking for ONE particularly representative Fossil or characteristic living thing ( at the time ) for EACH PERIOD.

EG one for Pre- Cambrian, one for Cambrian, One for Ordovician, Silurian ...............................Quaternary ( Mankind ) Any immediate suggestions ! ?

.

 

PS. I have now combed all the Wikipedia references you gave me. I have found the Geological scale with all the various fossils and living ( now dead , things ) Very good with pictures. I think I could still do with the single , most representative, creature from each PERIOD. I could guess, or be advised.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[iDevonian]

Thank you .

 

In the immediate I am looking for ONE particularly representative Fossil or characteristic living thing ( at the time ) for EACH PERIOD.

EG one for Pre- Cambrian, one for Cambrian, One for Ordovician, Silurian ...............................Quaternary ( Mankind ) Any immediate suggestions ! ?

.

 

PS. I have now combed all the Wikipedia references you gave me. I have found the Geological scale with all the various fossils and living ( now dead , things ) Very good with pictures. I think I could still do with the single , most representative, creature from each PERIOD. I could guess, or be advised.

 

Hm.

 

Trilobites prospered in the cambrian. I often find orthoceras from the ordovician. Cephalopods. The silurian had a lot of shallow marine invertebrates. eurypterus, arthropods and myriapods. ah...the devonian...tiktaalik is pretty popular. The mississippian and pennsylvanian had a lot of large insects and...lots of plants. Synapsids in the permian, dinosaurs throughout the mesozoic. Triassic lystosaurus, Jurassic archaeopteryx, cretaceous t-rex

 

http://microecos.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/img_2207.jpg

 

Im not too familiar with fossils between the end of the cretaceous to the early holocene. Eventually you get into all of the archaic homo sapiens. There are a fair number of them.

[Ophiolite]

PS. I have now combed all the Wikipedia references you gave me. I have found the Geological scale with all the various fossils and living ( now dead , things ) Very good with pictures. I think I could still do with the single , most representative, creature from each PERIOD. I could guess, or be advised.

I do hope you realise that any such selection will be subjective, unscientific, and of value only in as much as it provides you with a focus for your art work. On that basis and only that basis here you are:

 

Cambrian - Trilobites

Ordovician - Graptolites

Silurian - Brachiopods

Devonian - Ostracoderms

Carboniferous - Labyrinthodontia

Permian - Therapsids

Triassic - Cynodonts

Jurassic - Archaeopteryx

Cretaceous - Triceratops

Tertiary - Angiosperms

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

Hm.

 

Trilobites prospered in the cambrian. I often find orthoceras from the ordovician. Cephalopods. The silurian had a lot of shallow marine invertebrates. eurypterus, arthropods and myriapods. ah...the devonian...tiktaalik is pretty popular. The mississippian and pennsylvanian had a lot of large insects and...lots of plants. Synapsids in the permian, dinosaurs throughout the mesozoic. Triassic lystosaurus, Jurassic archaeopteryx, cretaceous t-rex

 

 

 

A quickie " Did Trilobites swim about slightly above the turbid bottom of the ocean during the Cambrian period ( say the Redlichiida Trilobite ), or did they crawl about on the bottom, or both or neither . ( wiggle, slither, burrow ).

 

I hope they swam,as I have painted one swimming as such . ??

 

.

 

Cambrian - Trilobites

Ordovician - Graptolites

Silurian - Brachiopods

Devonian - Ostracoderms

Carboniferous - Labyrinthodontia

Permian - Therapsids

Triassic - Cynodonts

Jurassic - Archaeopteryx

Cretaceous - Triceratops

Tertiary - Angiosperms

 

Great List ! Thanks ! I will let you see the finished work, as long as I do not slip into the Abyss down a turbid mud flow!

 

Yes of course. The ediacara biota.

 

The oldest fossils date long long before the cambrian. The ediacara biota existed during the ediacaran period. Their fossils consist of...things that would be expected. Arthropods, cnidarians, stromatolites, different types burrowing organisms, like worms etc. Many of the organisms were just...very very simple in structure. No complex digestive system or anything like that. Just simple animals that just kind of hang out like plants. However, complex systems existed as well, marking pre cursors to cambrian arthropods and various invertebrates. Organisms like algae have fossils dating back...over 3.5 billion years ago. So yes, they were present prior to the cambrian as well. Id recommend looking at wikipedia. On wiki pages, for living organisms, there is a geologic timescale on the page that you can reference.

 

https://en.wikipedia.../Ediacara_biota

 

 

https://nonfinito.fi...77-ediacara.jpg

 

 

Really great. Its Friday night, I have just walked the Jack Russel dog for her last excursion this wet night. As I approach my front door the little stream on the other side of the road makes a trickling sound. I look up and see the usual flow of water and small particles of sand. The sand is brown/red which it is in this part of South Devon . Of course the sand I can see is a mere 400,million years old , being a few grains recently eroded off a bit of Devonian Sandstone, having been lain down in the shallow seas of the yet to be consolidated Pangea Supercontinent, whilst basking in the equatorial heat at latitude 0 degrees. But what the .... just a few hundred million years of getting here sailing down the stream over the road.

 

Oh well indoors, lock the door and research your quote for Ediacara Biota . In to wikipedia and listen to a broadcast on BBC "in our time ", to be thrust back to 580,million years ago just into the end of the Pre-cambrian period to witness the end of the Ediacara Biota either being made extinct by deoxygenated turbid mud or 'eaten screaming ' by recent entered mouthed, clawed, gutted tubes that made short work of the Ediacara Biota. Furtunately they ( The Ediacara Biota , which I now need to paint as anything up to one meter discs of fern like fauna, ) had had some 50 million years to graze on microbial mats and algae slime with no predators from 635 MYA to 580 million years ago ).

 

Well I am going to have some fancy dreams tonight ! Thanks.

 

Perhaps insane_alien can give me the Chemistry of the rocks !

 

.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Ophiolite]

A quickie " Did Trilobites swim about slightly above the turbid bottom of the ocean during the Cambrian period ( say the Redlichiida Trilobite ), or did they crawl about on the bottom, or both or neither . ( wiggle, slither, burrow ).

 

I hope they swam,as I have painted one swimming as such . ??

Eye positions indicate that many of them were bottom dwellers. One suspects they may have buried into the mud with only their eyes exposed, waiting for a tasty morsel. Others were likely (relatively) efficient swimmers. I don't recall any data on proportions between various lifestyles.

 

While trying to fin such data I stumbled across this paper that you may find of interest. http://geoweb.uchicago.edu/pdfs/jablonski/JablonskiSepkoski1996.pdf

[Moontanman]

This may also be of some interest as well.

 

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/60696/title/African_fossils_suggest_complex_life_arose_early

 

Any chance we will get to see the finished painting?

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

This may also be of some interest as well.

 

http://www.sciencene...ife_arose_early

 

Any chance we will get to see the finished painting?

 

 

 

Thank you and yes to seeing the paintings, might be a little while yet !

 

Eye positions indicate that many of them were bottom dwellers. One suspects they may have buried into the mud with only their eyes exposed, waiting for a tasty morsel. Others were likely (relatively) efficient swimmers. I don't recall any data on proportions between various lifestyles.

 

While trying to fin such data I stumbled across this paper that you may find of interest. http://geoweb.uchica...epkoski1996.pdf

 

Great. Better get painting a bit more. My one is swimming at the moment, but I rather like that image of a trilobite buried in mud with its eyes sticking up waiting for a passing ....... a passing what ?

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

This may also be of some interest as well.

 

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/60696/title/African_fossils_suggest_complex_life_arose_early

 

Any chance we will get to see the finished painting?

 

 

'Ophiolite', on 10 Nov 2012 - 11:05, said:

Eye positions indicate that many of them were bottom dwellers. One suspects they may have buried into the mud with only their eyes exposed, waiting for a tasty morsel. Others were likely (relatively) efficient swimmers. I don't recall any data on proportions between various lifestyles.

 

 

 

Trilobites from Cambrian and Silurian ERA

 

 

Artist Impressions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you. My one is swimming at the moment, but I rather like that image of a trilobite buried in mud with its eyes sticking up waiting for a passing ....... a passing what ?

Edited January 4, 2013 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

Trilobites from Cambrian and Silurian ERA

 

 

Artist Impressions

 

DSCF0035.JPG

 

DSCF0036.JPG

 

 

My one is swimming at the moment, but I rather like that image of a trilobite buried in mud with its eyes sticking up waiting for a passing ....... a passing what ?

 

Is it a worm ?

 

 

 

 

Eaten themselves by Trilobites ?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2013 by Mike Smith Cosmos