Towards an Ediacaran Time Scale: Problems, Protocols, and Prospects

• 来源期刊: 幕-国际地学杂志（英文版）
• 关键词: climatic events snowball Earth time scale
• 年，卷（期）: 2016,（4）
• 页码范围: 540-555
• 页数: 16页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.18814/epiiugs/2016/v39i4/103886

摘要

The Ediacaran Period follows the Cryogenian Period in the wake of a snowball Earth glaciation and precedes the Cambrian Period with its rising tide of animal radiation. It is also the longest among all stratigraphically defined geological periods, lasting 94 million years (635–541 Ma). Hence, a good Ediacaran time scale is essential, not only to elucidate geological time, but also to provide a temporal context for extreme climatic events and transformative evolutionary transitions.