Cambrian
Life's explosive dawn
Cambrian refers to the earliest period of the Paleozoic era, roughly 540 to 485 million years ago, when complex animal life first appeared abundantly in the fossil record.
The Cambrian explosion describes this rapid diversification of life forms.
Capitalized, Cambrian also means Welsh or relating to Wales—from Cambria, the Latin name for the region.
Cambrian rocks may refer to either geological strata or Welsh stone.
Earliest geological eon
- OrdovicianPaleozoic geological period
- SilurianPaleozoic period, mid-range
- PaleozoicEarly complex-life epoch
- trilobiteExtinct segmented marine arthropod
brachiopod · Burgess Shale · explosion · diversification · marine · invertebrate · arthropod · fossil
Expanding into varied areas
- phylaTaxonomic kingdom subdivisions
- evolutionSpecies changing over generations
- rapidMoving with haste
- radiationEnergy propagation through space
speciation · adaptation · Burgess Shale · trilobite · bilateral symmetry · segmentation · eyes · predation
Extinct segmented marine arthropod
- brachiopodHinged-shell marine invertebrate
- arthropodJointed-limb invertebrate phylum
- Burgess ShaleCambrian lagerstätte in Canada
- preservationMaintaining something's condition
invertebrate · sediment · strata · paleontology · imprint · shale · soft-bodied · mineralization
Precambrian
Earliest geological eon
- OrdovicianPaleozoic geological period
- SilurianPaleozoic period, mid-range
- PaleozoicEarly complex-life epoch
trilobite · brachiopod · Burgess Shale · explosion · diversification · marine · invertebrate · arthropod · fossil · strata
diversification
Expanding into varied areas
radiation · speciation · adaptation · Burgess Shale · trilobite · bilateral symmetry · segmentation · eyes · predation · ecosystem
trilobite
Extinct segmented marine arthropod
- brachiopodHinged-shell marine invertebrate
- arthropodJointed-limb invertebrate phylum
- Burgess ShaleCambrian lagerstätte in Canada
preservation · invertebrate · sediment · strata · paleontology · imprint · shale · soft-bodied · mineralization
Wales
Celtic British principality
geology · Snowdonia · nomenclature · British · stratigraphy · slate · quarry
- erasera, epoch, age, bronze age, period
- Earth historyice age, geological time, extinction, eons, fossil
- geologic historyOrdovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian
- geologic timeeons, eon, epochs, era, epoch
- paleontologydinosaurs, fossil, paleontology, fossil record, dinosaur bones
- British geologychalk, flint, limestone, shale, sandstone
CambrianQuaternary
Last 2.6 million years
Precambrian · Archean · Holocene · Pleistocene · Cenozoic
CambrianEnglish
Britain's native tongue
Anglo-Saxon · Caledonian · Hibernian · Norman · Scottish
- Cambrian periodEarliest Paleozoic era
- Cambrian explosionSudden appearance of complex life