Cambrian Period

Ediacaran Period - Cambrian Period - Ordovician Period

The Cambrian Period is the first period of the Paleozoic Era and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian begins with the End-Ediacaran extinction event and ends with the Cambrian-Ordovician extinction event. As Pannotia broke up during the Ediacaran Period, several smaller continents formed, leaving seas in between them. A vast majority of Cambrian life was aquatic, though terrestrial life must have existed in the period given the existence of the trade fossils Protichnites and Climactichnites.

Four primary continents existed during the Cambrian. The land that was Laurentia is now roughly North America. The lands that were Baltica and Siberia are now parts of Europe and Asia, respectively. Most of the remaining land on Earth belonged to the supercontinent of Gondwana, which extended from the South Pole well into the Northern Hemisphere.

The Earth is believed to have been relatively cold at the beginning of the Cambrian, though it gradually warmed throughout the remainder of the period.

The most famous event of the Cambrian was the Cambrian Explosion. Much like the earlier Avalon Explosion of the Ediacaran Period, it was not a literal explosion, but a sudden diversification of animal species. Cambrian fauna was characterized by this wide diversity, and the most common animals of the period were Trilobites, which composed the extinct class Trilobita. The Trilobites would not only dominate the Cambrian aquatic bioscape, but would survive until the end of the Permian Period, also the end of the Paleozoic Era. The early arthropod, Anomalocaris, became one of Earth's earliest apex predators during the Cambrian. Pikaia, among the earliest known Chordates, has been found in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, as have most of the more famous Cambrian animals, including the aforementioned Anomalocaris. Other arthropods of the Burgess Shale included Opabinia, a relative of Anomalocaris, and Marella, which is unique enough to be placed into its own order. Algae, lichens, and fungi covered the Cambrian landscape.

The Cambrian is subdivided into four epochs: the Terreneuvian, Cambrian Epoch 2, the Miaolingian and the Furongian.

Cambrian Timescale:

Cambrian Period - 541-485.4 MYA

-Terreneuvian Epoch - 541-520 MYA

--Fortunian Age - 541-530 MYA

--Cambrian Age 2 - 530-520 MYA

-Cambrian Epoch 2 - 520-509 MYA

--Cambrian Age 3 - 520-514 MYA

--Cambrian Age 4 - 514-509 MYA

-Miaolingian - 509-497 MYA

--Wuliuan - 509-504.5 MYA

--Drumian Age - 504.5-500.5 MYA

--Guzhangian Age - 500.5-497 MYA

-Furongian Epoch - 497-485.4 MYA

--Paibian Age - 497-494 MYA

--Jiangshanian Age - 494-489.5 MYA

--Cambrian Age 10 - 489.5-485.4 MYA