Cambrian ocean world ancient sea life of North America /
John Foster.
- Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, (c)2014.
- 1 online resource (457 pages)
- Life of the Past .
Description based upon print version of record.
Includes bibliographies and index.
Cover; CONTENTS; PREFACE; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS; 1 Natural Mystic: An Introduction to the Cambrian; 2 Into the Heart: Cambrian Geology; 3 A Long Strange Trip: The First 4000 Million Years of Earth History; 4 Welcome to the Boomtown: The Early Cambrian Seas; 5 On Top of the World: The Middle Cambrian Begins; 6 Magical Mystery Tour: The Biological Psychedelia of the Burgess Shale; 7 Glory Days: The Later Middle Cambrian; 8 Taking Off: The Late Cambrian; 9 Home by the Sea: A Closer Look; 10 On and On: Legacy of the Explosion; GLOSSARY; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; K; L; M; N; O; P Rs; t; u; v; w; notes; references; index; a; b; c; d; e; f; g; h; i; j; k; l; m; n; o; p; q; r; s; t; u; v; w; y; z
This volume, aimed at the general reader, presents life and times of the amazing animals that inhabited Earth more than 500 million years ago. The Cambrian Period was a critical time in Earth's history. During this immense span of time nearly every modern group of animals appeared. Although life had been around for more than 2 million millennia, Cambrian rocks preserve the record of the first appearance of complex animals with eyes, protective skeletons, antennae, and complex ecologies. Grazing, predation, and multi-tiered ecosystems with animals living in, on, or above the sea floor became co.