The Ediacaran period

About the Ediacaran

The Ediacaran ( EE-dee-AK-ər-ən, ED-ee-) is a geological period of the Neoproterozoic Era that spans 96 million years from the end of the Cryogenian Period 635 million years ago to the beginning of the Cambrian Period 538.8 million years ago. It is the last period of the Proterozoic Eon as well as the last of the so-called "Precambrian supereon", before the beginning of the subsequent Cambrian Period marks the start of the Phanerozoic Eon, where recognizable fossil evidence of life becomes common.

The Ediacaran Period is named after the Ediacara Hills of South Australia, where trace fossils of a diverse community of previously unrecognized lifeforms (later named the Ediacaran biota) were first discovered by geologist Reg Sprigg in 1946. Its status as an official geological period was ratified in 2004 by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), making it the first new geological period declared in 120 years. Although the period took namesake from the Ediacara Hills in the Nilpena Ediacara National Park, the type section is actually located in the bed of the Enorama Creek within the Brachina Gorge in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, at 31°19′53.8″S 138°38′0.1″E, approximately 55 km (34 mi) southeast of the Ediacara Hills fossil site.

Featured animals of the Ediacaran (5)

Cloudina635–525.5 MaDickinsonia635–538.8 MaCharnia635–538.8 MaSpriggina635–538.8 MaKimberella635–538.8 Ma

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Ediacaran (revision 1372939452), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim. Ages and colours: ICS chart (v2024/12) via the Paleobiology Database.