Cambrian Period Research Paper

The Cambrian Period is the first geological time period of the Paleozoic Era. This period lasted about 53 million years and marked a dramatic burst of Evolutionary changes in life on Earth, known as the "Cambrian Explosion.

Plant and Animal Life • In the Cambrian period life was in the oceans and some of variety of microscopic plants were in the oceans. Many Early Cambrian invertebrates are known only from "small Shelly fossils".

• There were a variety of microscopic marine plants like the Margarita.

• The most important animal group of the Cambrian were the trilobites.

• The period marked a fast change in the variety and composition of Earth 's biosphere.

• The early Cambrian showed such diversification that it has been named the Cambrian

• The Rodinia broke apart into two different continents.

• The mass that would eventually become modern Africa, Australia, South America, Antarctica and parts of Asia was called Gondwana, and it was located near the South Pole.

• Laurentia would break up to become North America and much of Europe and it was located closer to the equator.

Climate

• The Earth was generally cold during the early Cambrian.

• There were likely polar ice caps and a series of glaciations, as the planet was still recovering from an earlier Snowball

• It ended with the Ordovician, Silurian extinction event, about 443.8 Million years ago. Climate

• During the first parts of the Ordovician the climate was fairly warm.

• The land uplifted and continents moved around.

• When Gondwana stopped its movement over South Pole, glaciers formed.

• This caused the sea level to drop and climate to change.

• These changes led to a mass extinction at the end of the Ordovician Period.

Major Extinction

• The Major Extinction of Ordovician was the third largest extinction in Earth 's history.

• The Ordovician-Silurian mass extinction had two top dying times obsolete by hundreds of thousands of years.

• During the Ordovician, most life was in the sea, so it was sea creatures such as trilobites, brachiopods and graptolites that were drastically reduced in number.

• The Silurian period Time Span

The Silurian Period occurred from 443 million to 416 million years ago. It was the third period in the Paleozoic Era. It followed the Ordovician Period and preceded the Devonian Period. During this time, continental landmasses were low and sea levels were