565 million-year-old fossils record an important moment in Earth's evolution | Sciences

From the ashes of an ancient volcano in Wales, researchers have been able to date some of the world's oldest fossils of complex multicellular life. Scientists estimate that these organisms were preserved 565 million years ago.

The date was recorded yesterday (15) in a study published in the journal Journal of the Geological Society. The research was conducted by a team of scientists led by Curtin University in Australia.

According to the researchers, the fossils evaluated commemorate a crucial moment in Earth's history: when the seas began to fill with new forms of life after four billion years containing only single-celled microbes.

“At Coed Cochion Quarry in Wales, which contains the richest occurrences of shallow marine life in Britain, we used material from an ancient volcano that covered the animals as a time marker to precisely date the fossils to 565 million years ago, with an accuracy of 0.1,” said the study’s lead author, Anthony Clarke, from Mineral Systems Time Tables Collection at Curtin School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, In the current situation.

Similar fossils from the Ediacaran period have been found all over the world, Clark says. Once these preserved creatures were dated, they were revealed to be part of an ancient living community that evolved as the Earth thawed from the global Ice Age.

The researcher compares, saying: “These creatures resemble in some way modern marine species, such as jellyfish, but they were strange and unknown from other points of view.” “Some look like ferns, others look like cabbage, and there are also creatures that look like sea feathers.”

Professor Chris Kirkland, also of the Curtin Mineral Systems Timescales Group, compares the Welsh finds to so-called Ediacaran fossils. He explains that these relics are named after the area where they were first discovered: the Ediacara Hills, South Australia.

“Fossils, including creatures such as Aspidella Tiranovica, “It is disc-shaped, showing some of the first evidence of large-scale multicellular organisms, marking a turning point in Earth's biological history.”

The team's study, according to Kirkland, “highlights the importance of understanding these ancient ecosystems to unravel the mysteries of Earth's past and shape our understanding of the evolution of life.”