The Cambrian radiation was the explosive evolution of marine life that started 550,000,000 years ago. It ranks as one of the most important episodes in Earth history. This key event in the history of life on our planet changed the marine biosphere and its sedimentary environment forever, requiring a complex interplay of wide-ranging biologic and nonbiologic processes. The Ecology of the Cambrian Radiation offers a comprehensive and surprising picture of the Earth at that ancient time. The book contains contributions from thirty-three authors hailing from ten countries and will be of interest to paleontologists, geologists, biologists, and other researchers interested in the global Earth-life system.
The Geologic Time Scale 2012, winner of a 2012 PROSE Award Honorable Mention for Best Multi-volume Reference in Science from the Association of American Publishers, is the framework for deciphering the history of our planet Earth. The authors have been at the forefront of chronostratigraphic research and initiatives to create an international geologic time scale for many years, and the charts in this book present the most up-to-date, international standard, as ratified by the International Commission on Stratigraphy and the International Union of Geological Sciences. This 2012 geologic time scale is an enhanced, improved and expanded version of the GTS2004, including chapters on planetary scales, the Cryogenian-Ediacaran periods/systems, a prehistory scale of human development, a survey of sequence stratigraphy, and an extensive compilation of stable-isotope chemostratigraphy. This book is an essential reference for all geoscientists, including researchers, students, and petroleum and mining professionals. The presentation is non-technical and illustrated with numerous colour charts, maps and photographs. The book also includes a detachable wall chart of the complete time scale for use as a handy reference in the office, laboratory or field. The most detailed international geologic time scale available that contextualizes information in one single reference for quick desktop access Gives insights in the construction, strengths, and limitations of the geological time scale that greatly enhances its function and its utility Aids understanding by combining with the mathematical and statistical methods to scaled composites of global succession of events Meets the needs of a range of users at various points in the workflow (researchers extracting linear time from rock records, students recognizing the geologic stage by their content)
The National Heritage List was created in January 2004 to recognise, celebrate and protect places of outstanding heritage value to the nation. National heritage encompasses those places that reveal the richness of Australia's extraordinarily diverse natural, historic and Indigenous heritage. One aspect of natural heritage that has been little explored is Australia’s wealth of exceptional fossil sites. While a small number of fossil sites have risen to public prominence, there are many lesser-known sites that have important heritage values. The Australian Heritage Council engaged palaeontologists from state museums and the Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery to compile lists of outstanding fossil sites and to document their characteristics and relative importance against a range of categories, with a view to further our understanding about Australia’s important fossil heritage. Sites that were listed for National or World Heritage values were not included in the places for consideration, with the focus being on lesser-known but still important sites. This book is an account of the palaeontologists’ findings. Some of the sites that were included in the initial lists have since been recognised through listing on the National Heritage List or the World Heritage List. Australia's Fossil Heritage provides a useful reference to the outstanding fossil sites it catalogues, and gives a clearer understanding of the heritage values of such sites. More generally, it contributes to a greater appreciation of Australia’s geological and fossil diversity and enables readers to learn more about Australia's prehistory.
"Ponder and Lindberg provides a breathtaking overview of the evolutionary history of the Mollusca, effectively melding information from anatomy, ecology, genomics, and paleobiology to explore the depths of molluscan phylogeny. Its outstanding success is due to thoughtful planning, focused complementary contributions from 36 expert authors, and careful editing. This volume is a must for malacologists."—Bruce Runnegar, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles "Our understanding of the phylogeny and evolutionary history of the mollusca has been revolutionized over the past two decades through new molecular data and analysis, and reinvestigation of morphological characters. In this volume Ponder, Lindberg, and their colleagues do a wonderful job of integrating this work to provide new perspectives on the relationships of the major molluscan clades, their evolutionary dynamics, and their history. Particularly timely is the coverage of molluscan evo-devo and genomics."—Douglas H. Erwin, Curator of Paleozoic Invertebrates, National Museum of Natural History
Geologic Time Scale 2020 (2 volume set) contains contributions from 80+ leading scientists who present syntheses in an easy-to-understand format that includes numerous color charts, maps and photographs. In addition to detailed overviews of chronostratigraphy, evolution, geochemistry, sequence stratigraphy and planetary geology, the GTS2020 volumes have separate chapters on each geologic period with compilations of the history of divisions, the current GSSPs (global boundary stratotypes), detailed bio-geochem-sequence correlation charts, and derivation of the age models. The authors are on the forefront of chronostratigraphic research and initiatives surrounding the creation of an international geologic time scale. The included charts display the most up-to-date, international standard as ratified by the International Commission on Stratigraphy and the International Union of Geological Sciences. As the framework for deciphering the history of our planet Earth, this book is essential for practicing Earth Scientists and academics. - Completely updated geologic time scale - Provides the most detailed integrated geologic time scale available that compiles and synthesize information in one reference - Gives insights on the construction, strengths and limitations of the geological time scale that greatly enhances its function and its utility
