Thinking Outside the Fossil Record: Explanations for the Cam...

2008-04-29 18:00:00 - 2008-04-29 00:00:00

Thinking Outside the Fossil Record:

Explanations for the Cambrian Explosion of Animals

Lecture by Charles Marshall

tuesday, april 29, 6:00 pm

There are many explanations for the Cambrian "explosion"—that flash of evolution 540 million years ago when the diversity of animal life exploded. Family after family of complex creatures with hard shells, spinal cords, and skeletons arose to dominate life on Earth and create a rich, albeit incomplete, fossil record. What caused this diversity explosion, and what makes this epoch unique in history? Charles Marshall is Professor of Biology and Geology at Harvard, and Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Free and open to the public at 24 Oxford Street in the Geological Lecture Hall.