Earth's long history, spanning 4.6 billion years, includes events which help to put the current threats to our biosphere into perspective. Most importantly, the geological record provides a window into milestone environmental and evolutionary events that shaped the planet as we know it today.
One of the great unsolved evolutionary events in deep time relates to the origin and early relationships of the major animal phyla that appeared in the fossil record more that 540 million years ago, during the Cambrian Explosion. Although new molecular data have been very useful, we still have little understanding about the origination of most of the 15-30 phyla of bilaterian animals living on the planet today. The richly diverse and often strange fossil remains that echo this critical time in Earth's history are particularly well exposed on the continents of Australia and Antarctica.
Tommotiid fossils found in Australia. Photo: Lars Holmer/Christian Skovsted
Whereas well preserved Cambrian fossils have been intensely studied in Australia, very little is known about the record of Cambrian life in Antarctica. Published preliminary studies indicate an untapped source of very well preserved fossil material. The proposed project can be expected to lead to a better understanding of this major diversification event in the history of animal life on Earth.
The project is a collaboration between the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The participants are based at the U.S. McMurdo station and will travel by air, about 500 km south to the premises in Churchill Mountains where a tent camp will be set up.
Churchill Mountains.
Principal Investigator: Lars Holmer, Uppsala University
23 October: Arriving in Christchurch, New Zeeland
26 October: Christchurch–McMurdo
8 November–26 November: Field work in Churchill Mountains
30 November: McMurdo–Christchurch
4 December: Christchurch–Sweden