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Era

Cambrian

KAM-bree-un
Phanerozoic

The first period of the Paleozoic and of the Phanerozoic eon, named for Cambria (Wales), where its rock sequences were first studied. It opens with the most rapid diversification of complex animal life the fossil record shows. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Rank
Period 1
Start (Million Years Ago)
538.8 1
Revised in early 2022 from the earlier figure of 541 Mya per the cited article.
End (Million Years Ago)
485.4 1
Cambrian-Ordovician boundary, ICS standard value.
Key Event
The Cambrian explosion: the rapid appearance in the fossil record of most major hard-bodied animal groups alive today. 1
Connections

Has Geologic Rank

In Discipline

Source Geologic Time Scale (Wikipedia)

Precursor To

Ordovician, Eras
Sources
1. Geologic Time Scale (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationView the Source
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