What is the Cambrian Explosion? You might have heard the term Cambrian Explosion from your recent science class lecture. Or you may have never even heard of it before. The Cambrian Explosion is a historical event that occurred more than 545 millions of years ago below the Earth’s surface on the very bottom of the ocean floor. This so-called “explosion” did’t happen like most explosions you would imagine. Instead, it happened slowly rather than an instant. This event got it’s name because of the diversity it formed in a relatively short amount of time.Before the event, the only organisms living on the planet were simple organisms under the sea. After the Cambrian Explosion the period is considered as the Cambrian period.
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Have you wondered why it occurred? Until now, scientists are still looking for answers to this question, and have also proposed multiple possible hypotheses that may be the answer to your question. According to an article by the website “sciencemag.org” where possible causes of the Cambrian Explosion are collected and compiled on the article. It states there, “Many hypotheses have been invoked to explain the rapid diversification of animal species in the early Cambrian (541 million to 515 million years ago), ranging from starbursts in the Milky Way to intrinsic genomic reorganization and developmental patterning. Recent hypotheses for the Cambrian explosion fall into three main categories: developmental/genetic, ecologic, and abiotic/environmental, with geochemical hypotheses forming an abundant and distinctive subset of the last (1). Most of these hypotheses have been posited as stand-alone processes that were the main cause of the explosion, yet many of them are tightly interlinked and codependent. The rapid diversification of animals in the early Cambrian is likely to have been the result of a complex interplay of biotic and abiotic processes.” As you can see, there’s not a specific conclusion to the exact cause of the
Have you wondered why it occurred? Until now, scientists are still looking for answers to this question, and have also proposed multiple possible hypotheses that may be the answer to your question. According to an article by the website “sciencemag.org” where possible causes of the Cambrian Explosion are collected and compiled on the article. It states there, “Many hypotheses have been invoked to explain the rapid diversification of animal species in the early Cambrian (541 million to 515 million years ago), ranging from starbursts in the Milky Way to intrinsic genomic reorganization and developmental patterning. Recent hypotheses for the Cambrian explosion fall into three main categories: developmental/genetic, ecologic, and abiotic/environmental, with geochemical hypotheses forming an abundant and distinctive subset of the last (1). Most of these hypotheses have been posited as stand-alone processes that were the main cause of the explosion, yet many of them are tightly interlinked and codependent. The rapid diversification of animals in the early Cambrian is likely to have been the result of a complex interplay of biotic and abiotic processes.” As you can see, there’s not a specific conclusion to the exact cause of the