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Research ArticleArticles

Was the Cambrian explosion both an effect and an artifact of true polar wander?

Ross N. Mitchell, Timothy D. Raub, Samuel C. Silva and Joseph L. Kirschvink
American Journal of Science December 2015, 315 (10) 945-957; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2475/10.2015.02
Ross N. Mitchell
* Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91125 USA
** Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut 06511 USA
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  • For correspondence: ross.mitchell@yale.edu
Timothy D. Raub
*** Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AL, United Kingdom
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Samuel C. Silva
§ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 75 North Eagleville Road, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-3042, USA
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Joseph L. Kirschvink
* Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91125 USA
§§ Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro, Tokyo, Japan
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Abstract

Charles Darwin suspected that the Cambrian “explosion” might be an artifact of fossil preservation. A more recent, initially controversial hypothesis that repeated true polar wander (TPW) triggered the Ediacaran-Cambrian explosion of animal life has been supported by numerous paleomagnetic and geochronologic refinements. These data imply ∼75° of TPW between 535 and 515 million years ago, coinciding with the paleontologically observed rise in metazoan diversity and disparity. We show here that this evolutionary trend is explained simply by the well known ecology-driven increase of diversity in low latitudes, coupled by other ecological effects as well as the enhanced deposition of sedimentary rocks during TPW-driven sea-level transgressions. During the Cambrian TPW event, Laurentia and parts of Gondwanaland moved into the equatorial zone while experiencing local TPW-induced transgressions; these areas dominate the paleontological record of the time. Although diversity might thus be considered partly artifactual, TPW acted on Cambrian biogeography to increase net diversity; and enhanced rates of origination and extinction also could increase disparity, especially if Early Cambrian TPW occurred at a time when genetic regulatory networks were critically poised for expansion and exaptation.

  • Cambrian explosion
  • True Polar Wander
  • plate tectonics
  • diversity
  • paleogeography
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American Journal of Science: 315 (10)
American Journal of Science
Vol. 315, Issue 10
1 Dec 2015
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Was the Cambrian explosion both an effect and an artifact of true polar wander?
Ross N. Mitchell, Timothy D. Raub, Samuel C. Silva, Joseph L. Kirschvink
American Journal of Science Dec 2015, 315 (10) 945-957; DOI: 10.2475/10.2015.02

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Was the Cambrian explosion both an effect and an artifact of true polar wander?
Ross N. Mitchell, Timothy D. Raub, Samuel C. Silva, Joseph L. Kirschvink
American Journal of Science Dec 2015, 315 (10) 945-957; DOI: 10.2475/10.2015.02
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    • Abstract
    • INTRODUCTION
    • ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS AND PRESERVATIONAL ARTIFACTS
    • DYNAMIC EARLY CAMBRIAN BIOGEOGRAPHY
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Keywords

  • Cambrian explosion
  • True Polar Wander
  • plate tectonics
  • diversity
  • paleogeography

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