Fossil

Cambrian

  • Period: to

    cambrian age

    Climate was cold
  • Climate

    The climate was cold, not suitable for organisms to live.
  • Life

    Invertebrates begin to appear in the oceans.
  • Cambrian Explosion

    The temperature rises, which allows more organisms to develope.
  • Trilobites

    Trilobites start to appear on the earth. They were one of the first organisms with eyesight.
  • The Boss

    The most fearsome predator of the time was the Anomalocaris. It fed on trilobites, worms, and mollusks.
  • Plants

    The plants that lived at the time were one-celled algae.
  • Adaptaion Begins

    Adaptation begins with the Wiwaxia, which developed a hard shell, scales, and spikes. However, its bellly was left unprotected, like today's porcupine.
  • Pangaea

    Pangaea continued to break up. North America and Siberia separated from the Gondwana supercontinent.
  • Predators

    One predator of the Cambrian age was the five eyed Opabinia, which caught its food with a flexible claw on top of its head.
  • Algae and Bacteria

    Blue-green algae and bacteria begin to develop along shorelines and lake margins.
  • Sea Level

    The sea level continued to rise from 30m to 90m.
  • First Spinal-Cord Bearing Animal

    The first chordate was the Pikaia, which was a small creature that looked like an eel.
  • Rock Deposits

    The warm, shallow water of the Cambrian period resulted in lage deposits of limestone and dolomite.
  • Sea Level Drop

    Along with the temperature drop, the sea level also dropped dramatically.
  • Fossils

    The extinction of Cambrian age arthropods led to the fossils we find today.
  • Climate

    The temperature drops again, which led to mass extinction.
  • end of cambrian age