COSEE Ocean Systems: News
Tiny fossils unlock clues to Earth's climate half a billion years ago
Description: An international collaboration of scientists, led by the University of Leicester, has investigated Earth's climate over half a billion years ago by combining climate models and chemical analyses of fossil shells about 1mm long. The research suggests that early animals diversified within a climate similar to that in which the dinosaurs lived. This interval in time is known for the 'Cambrian explosion', the time during which representatives of most of the major animal groups first appear in the fossil record. These include the first animals to produce shells, and it is these shelly fossils that the scientists used. [Source: University of Leicester] Scientists have long thought that the early Cambrian Period was probably a greenhouse interval in Earth's climate history, a time when there were no permanent polar ice sheets.
URL: https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2018/may/tiny-fossils-unlock-clues-to-earth2019s-climate-half-a-billion-years-ago
Availability: Full Text
Source: University of Leicester
Publish Date: 5/10/2018
Reading Level: Basic
Page Length:  

<< BACK