Vendian
Paleontologists have placed the Vendian as the latest portion of the Proterozoic Era. It began about 650 million years ago, and ended about 543 million years
ago with the beginning of the Cambrian Period.
Eon |
Era |
Period |
Epoch |
Events |
Precambrian Time
4,500 to 544 mya
"deep time on earth" |
Proterozoic Era
2500 to 544 mya |
Vendian
650 to 544 mya |
Ediacara |
Oldest Animal Fossils |
Varanger |
Neoproterozoic - Late
900 to 544 mya |
|
Origin of Eurkayotes
|
Mesoproterozoic - Middle
1600 to 900 mya |
|
|
Paleoproterozoic - Early
2500 to 1600 mya |
|
Transition to
oxygen atmosphere
|
Archaean
3800 to 2500 mya |
Oldest Fossils
Oldest Rocks |
Hadean
4500 to 3800 mya |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unlike later portions of the geologic
time scale, the Vendian had no formal subdivisions
until just recently nor does it have a distinct early boundary. This is in
large part due to the fact that it has only recently become a subject of interest
to paleontologists.
Many
paleontologists held little hope that fossils would ever be found in rocks so ancient as the Vendian. Such
rocks may be deeply buried, twisted, folded, and melted by geologic forces.
These changes destroy any fossils. And so, older layers of rock, which have
been around for a longer time, are more likely to have undergone such changes,
and are thus less likely to preserve fossils.
However, in the
20th century macroscopic fossils of soft-bodied animals, algae, and fossil bacteria
have been found in these older rocks in a few localities around the world.
With the discovery
of these earliest fossils came a surge of interest in the Vendian and the Proterozoic Era, and
Here's an artists rendition of what Vendian life could have looked
like, based on the fossils being found.
To see some of these fossils, check out
the Vendian Gallery. |
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