Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary Geology, South Australia - Ocean Basin formation, Seawater Chemistry & Organic Evolution

The author¹ interprets a carbon isotope stratigraphy from the lowest strata in the Cambrian in the Adelaide Fold Belt, South Australia, in terms of the geological context of the sequence - a major transgression, development of patterns of circulation, upwelling that resulted from an adjacent ocean that was opening and increases of biomass that are suggested to have resulted from the Cambrian explosion event. The author¹ also found evidence of subtle seawater chemistry variations across the boundary that may, according to the author¹, have been instrumental in early metazoans developing calcareous skeletons.

Sources & Further reading

1. Tucker, Maurice E. "Carbon Isotopes and Precambrian—Cambrian Boundary Geology, South Australia: Ocean Basin Formation, Seawater Chemistry and Organic Evolution." Terra Nova 1, no. 6 (1989): 573-82.