Re: Early Cambrian explosion

Steven H. Schimmrich (sschimmr@ursa.calvin.edu)
Fri, 05 Feb 1999 10:05:45 -0500

At 08:44 AM 2/5/99 -0800, Art Chadwick wrote:
>
> Is there no shame? This report pushes back the origin of invertebrates a
> billion years into the Precambrian, with no fossil record, and all they can
> say is, they [the ancestors] might have been very small! However, there
> was no Cambrian explosion, as these authors make clear. It is an artifact
> of the failure of preservation of the ancestors of Cambrian forms for a
> billion years of sedimentary history. Please.
> [CUT ARTICLE]

It's an idea Art, a hypothesis based upon a specific technique that is still
being developed and is controversial. No one accepts this as a definitive
statement of truth, but rather as an idea that can be critiqued and tested
(by looking for those pesky fossils). Isn't this how science is supposed to work?

- Steve.

--   Steven H. Schimmrich, Assistant Professor of Geology   Department of Geology, Geography, and Environmental Studies   Calvin College, 3201 Burton Street SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546   sschimmr@calvin.edu (office), schimmri@earthlink.net (home)   616-957-7053 (voice mail), 616-957-6501 (fax)    http://home.earthlink.net/~schimmrich/