New Cambrian fossil diversity in China ~518 million years old.

[shunyadragon]

New discoveries in Chinese formations similar to the Burgess shales of Canada reveal a great diversity of new fossils. Many amazing well preserved fossils with great detail.

Source: http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/qingjiang-biota-07026.html

Paleontologists Discover 518 Million-Year-Old Fossil Site in China
Mar 26, 2019 by News Staff / Source
« Previous |
Animal life exploded in diversity and form during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago. An international team of paleontologists has discovered an early Cambrian fossil site in China — the Qingjiang biota — that contains a variety of specimens, more than half of which are previously undescribed. The 518 million-year-old fossil site rivals previously described Cambrian sites, such as the Burgess Shale of British Columbia and the Chengjiang fossil site in China’s Yunnan province, and should help to elucidate biological innovation and diversification during the Cambrian period.

© Copyright Original Source

[shunyadragon]

These fossils are ~10 million years older than the Canadian Burgess shale formation.

[lee_merrill]

All of which worsens the Cambrian explosion conundrum, the fossils include soft-bodied animals, including jellyfish!

Source: PBS.org

It has long been suspected that the sparseness of the pre-Cambrian fossil record reflects these two problems. First, organisms may not have sequestered and secreted much in the way of fossilizable hard parts; and second, the environments in which they lived may have characteristically dissolved those hard parts after death and recycled them.

Source

© Copyright Original Source

Blessings,
Lee

[tabibito]

That was dealt with in the article about the find itself - which pointed out that the deposit was undisturbed. Mudslides covered almost immediately be flood deposits which had the effect of sealing the animals in "cement" before decomposing bacteria could act. Stable geologically which meant that disturbances caused by such things as earthquakes didn't cause losses. There's no problem here that can't be reasonably - almost self evidently - accounted for.

[rogue06]

All of which worsens the Cambrian explosion conundrum, the fossils include soft-bodied animals, including jellyfish!

Source: PBS.org

It has long been suspected that the sparseness of the pre-Cambrian fossil record reflects these two problems. First, organisms may not have sequestered and secreted much in the way of fossilizable hard parts; and second, the environments in which they lived may have characteristically dissolved those hard parts after death and recycled them.

Source

© Copyright Original Source

Blessings,
Lee

To say the least, this is a bizarre interpretation.

[tabibito]

To say the least, this is a bizarre interpretation.

Not so bizarre when the piece is read in full.

[shunyadragon]

All of which worsens the Cambrian explosion conundrum, the fossils include soft-bodied animals, including jellyfish!

Source: PBS.org

It has long been suspected that the sparseness of the pre-Cambrian fossil record reflects these two problems. First, organisms may not have sequestered and secreted much in the way of fossilizable hard parts; and second, the environments in which they lived may have characteristically dissolved those hard parts after death and recycled them.

Source

© Copyright Original Source

Blessings,
Lee

Trying to ' argue from ignorance' with hypothetical conclusions does not address the context of the discovery. tabibito answers your question well.

The reality is it is just more information concerning the evolution during the Cambrian nearer to boundary with the PreCambrian.

[TheLurch]

To say the least, this is a bizarre interpretation.

PBS, oddly, also skipped over the fact that the global glaciations that came immediately prior to the Cambrian seemed to have wiped many of the sedimentary rocks off the earth, leading to a sparsity of Ediacaran deposits to start with.

[lee_merrill]

That was dealt with in the article about the find itself - which pointed out that the deposit was undisturbed.

I think you misunderstand me, I meant that scientists have postulated soft-bodied creatures as a missing link explaining the sudden appearance of Cambrian animals. Now they have such soft-bodied fossils! And this makes the Cambrian conundrum worse, because now they can see soft-bodied creatures in that time frame, and they appear to be Cambrian animals, not Cambrian predecessors.

Blessings,
Lee

[shunyadragon]

I think you misunderstand me, I meant that scientists have postulated soft-bodied creatures as a missing link explaining the sudden appearance of Cambrian animals. Now they have such soft-bodied fossils! And this makes the Cambrian conundrum worse, because now they can see soft-bodied creatures in that time frame, and they appear to be Cambrian animals, not Cambrian predecessors.

Blessings,
Lee

They are Cambrian predecessors of later Cambrian animals. The Precambrian worms and soft bodied animals are predecessors of later Cambrian animals.

There is no conundrum. This is simply more older fossil evidence.

[TheLurch]

I think you misunderstand me, I meant that scientists have postulated soft-bodied creatures as a missing link explaining the sudden appearance of Cambrian animals. Now they have such soft-bodied fossils! And this makes the Cambrian conundrum worse, because now they can see soft-bodied creatures in that time frame, and they appear to be Cambrian animals, not Cambrian predecessors.

That's because they've been found in Cambrian era fossil beds. If you wanted to find precursors of the Cambrian biota, soft-bodied or not, you wouldn't look in Cambrian deposits. You'd look in the period that came before it (namely the Ediacaran).

Look, i realize your goal in life is to convince yourself that you've found weaknesses in evolutionary theory that over a century of brilliant scientific minds have missed. Maybe try thinking a bit harder before pronouncing victory in the future though, ok?

[lee_merrill]

That's because they've been found in Cambrian era fossil beds. If you wanted to find precursors of the Cambrian biota, soft-bodied or not, you wouldn't look in Cambrian deposits. You'd look in the period that came before it (namely the Ediacaran).

Well, from the opening post: "Animal life exploded in diversity and form during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago." So 518 million year old fossils would be right at the pre-Cambrian boundary.

Blessings,
Lee

[TheLurch]

Well, from the opening post: "Animal life exploded in diversity and form during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago." So 518 million year old fossils would be right at the pre-Cambrian boundary.

First sentence of the Wikipedia article, bolding added:
"The Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation[1] was an event approximately 541 million years ago in the Cambrian period..."

There's this thing called Google. Try using it sometime.

[shunyadragon]

Well, from the opening post: "Animal life exploded in diversity and form during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago." So 518 million year old fossils would be right at the pre-Cambrian boundary.

Blessings,
Lee

As noted by TheLurch this is a confusing response based on selective quotes from the source to create confusion that does not reflect the article nor the present view of the evolution of life from the PreCambrian through the Cambrian, and the context of the recent finds in China.

[tabibito]

And fossilised bodies of soft tissue animals from the Edicaran era - are well known. Again - lots of fine silt and a geologically stable area preventing the usual destruction of soft tissue.

Between 570 and 540 million years ago (long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth) these warm seas were inhabited by soft-bodied organisms, similar to jellyfish.

Some of these organisms became trapped in fine silt in tidal flats and were fossilised as the silt turned to stone. As sea levels changed, the sea-floor became part of what we today know as the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, and the fossils found there formed part of a period known today as the Ediacaran Period. Examples of these unusual and fragile fossils, including Dickinsonia and Spriggina can be seen at the South Australian Museum.
Uncovering important evidence of early life

In 1946, while exploring for minerals, geologist Reginald Sprigg discovered fossil imprints in rocks around the low hills of the western Flinders Ranges at the old Ediacara minefield.

Sprigg's discovery was extremely important, as it was the first time the fossilised remains of an entire community of soft-bodied creatures had been found in such abundance anywhere in the world. Sprigg's discovery was so significant that fossils were named after him and the Ediacaran Period was named after the location where the fossils were found.