A massive asteroid that struck South Australia during a glacial cold snap 590 million years ago may have triggered the evolution of Earth's earliest complex organisms, Australian geologists reported. In 2010, researchers from the University of Adelaide argued that the Acraman asteroid impact coincided with an extensive glaciation period more than 500 million years ago and created ideal conditions for an explosion of complex organisms, known as the Ediacara biota.
The Ediacaran Period was characterized by the oldest definite multicellular organisms with tissues, and the most common types resemble segmented worms, fronds, disks, or immobile bags that had little resemblance to modern lifeforms -their relationship even with the later lifeforms of the Cambrian explosion is difficult to interpret. Release from the combined environmental stresses of a frigid, glacial climate near sea level and a major impact in low latitudes may have been a factor influencing subsequent Ediacaran biotic evolution, geologist Victor Gostin and colleagues wrote in their paper in the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences.
Original URL: https://dailygalaxy.com/2013/08/asteroid-impact-may-have-triggered-evolution-of-earths-multicellular-life-todays-most-popular/
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
