Diania Cactiformis will Not be down for Breakfast!

[Brock Samson]

  Earth oxygenation is a fluid [sic!] subject right now, seems to this layman. A recent description of early fossil assemblages:
"The deep-water Avalon biota (about 579 to 565 million years old) is often regarded as the earliest-known fossil assemblage with macroscopic and morphologically complex life forms1. It has been proposed that the rise of the Avalon biota was triggered by the oxygenation of mid-Ediacaran deep oceans2. Here we report a diverse assemblage of morphologically differentiated benthic macrofossils that were preserved largely in situ as carbonaceous compressions in black shales of the Ediacaran Lantian Formation (southern Anhui Province, South China). The Lantian biota, probably older than and taxonomically distinct from the Avalon biota, suggests that morphological diversification of macroscopic eukaryotes may have occurred in the early Ediacaran Period, perhaps shortly after the Marinoan glaciation, and that the redox history of Ediacaran oceans was more complex than previously thought."
The Lantian biota was 635 – 577 Ma, and had oxygen enough for multicellulars close to the ocean surface, at times. Avalon was 579 – 565 Ma, perhaps 40 My later, and had oxygen enough for multicellulars at depth. And this is another 50 My.
So yeah, maybe modern animals could have breathed the air at 520 Ma. But maybe one shouldn't bet on it.

Torbjörn Larsson, OM

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/02/23/meet-diania-the-walking-cactus-an-early-cousin-of-lifes-great-winners/

[Brock Samson]

    Can you Belive This!!??



                   

[Dans 68]

Actually, yes.    (I am highly educated, by the way.  )  Now, the real question is, "what would Diania Cactiformis have had for breakfast"?  

Dan

[nvrbdn]

well im not that educated and i feel that the whole thing was a stab at trying to put together as many long words as possible to try to look overly educated to the simple man. i didnt know that this creature existed, and hope my life will not be too deeply affected with this notice. had to skip over most of the words being that they were just too long to waste too much time on. 

[learical1]

 Earth oxygenation is a fluid [sic!] subject right now, seems to this layman. A recent description of early fossil assemblages:
"The deep-water Avalon biota (about 579 to 565 million years old) is often regarded as the earliest-known fossil assemblage with macroscopic and morphologically complex life forms1. It has been proposed that the rise of the Avalon biota was triggered by the oxygenation of mid-Ediacaran deep oceans2. Here we report a diverse assemblage of morphologically differentiated benthic macrofossils that were preserved largely in situ as carbonaceous compressions in black shales of the Ediacaran Lantian Formation (southern Anhui Province, South China). The Lantian biota, probably older than and taxonomically distinct from the Avalon biota, suggests that morphological diversification of macroscopic eukaryotes may have occurred in the early Ediacaran Period, perhaps shortly after the Marinoan glaciation, and that the redox history of Ediacaran oceans was more complex than previously thought."
The Lantian biota was 635 – 577 Ma, and had oxygen enough for multicellulars close to the ocean surface, at times. Avalon was 579 – 565 Ma, perhaps 40 My later, and had oxygen enough for multicellulars at depth. And this is another 50 My.
So yeah, maybe modern animals could have breathed the air at 520 Ma. But maybe one shouldn't bet on it.

Torbjörn Larsson, OM

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/02/23/meet-diania-the-walking-cactus-an-early-cousin-of-lifes-great-winners/

The way I understand this, the thread's title should have read "Diania Cactiformis hasn't been down for Breakfast in quite some time!"

[Brock Samson]

well im not that educated and i feel that the whole thing was a stab at trying to put together as many long words as possible to try to look overly educated to the simple man. i didnt know that this creature existed, and hope my life will not be too deeply affected with this notice. had to skip over most of the words being that they were just too long to waste too much time on.  

 I'm just really impressed you spelled "too" correctly!!!    

"The deep-water Avalon biota (about 579 to 565 million years old) is often regarded as the earliest-known fossil assemblage with macroscopic and morphologically complex life forms1. It has been proposed that the rise of the Avalon biota was triggered by the oxygenation of mid-Ediacaran deep oceans2. Here we report a diverse assemblage of morphologically differentiated benthic macrofossils that were preserved largely in situ as carbonaceous compressions in black shales of the Ediacaran Lantian Formation (southern Anhui Province, South China). The Lantian biota, probably older than and taxonomically distinct from the Avalon biota, suggests that morphological diversification of macroscopic eukaryotes may have occurred in the early Ediacaran Period, perhaps shortly after the Marinoan glaciation, and that the redox history of Ediacaran oceans was more complex than previously thought."
The Lantian biota was 635 – 577 Ma, and had oxygen enough for multicellulars close to the ocean surface, at times. Avalon was 579 – 565 Ma, perhaps 40 My later, and had oxygen enough for multicellulars at depth. And this is another 50 My.
So yeah, maybe modern animals could have breathed the air at 520 Ma. But maybe one shouldn't bet on it.

OK So,.. Read that aloud and occasionally bob your head like a parakeet
Then send a copy to Troy...

[bull]

Wow. This is an amazing story and it has completely changed my life. Thank you!

[Dans 68]

Wow. This is an amazing story and it has completely changed my life. Thank you!

Where is the sarcasm smiley? Oh, there it is. 

Dan

[BigBlackDodge]

"The deep-water Avalon biota (about 579 to 565 million years old) is often regarded as the earliest-known fossil assemblage with macroscopic and morphologically complex life form


No shit.


BBD

[jb666]

Wow. This is an amazing story and it has completely changed my life. Thank you!

[bull]

Wow. This is an amazing story and it has completely changed my life. Thank you!

What? I changed a couple things. Added a word here and a puncuation mark there... It just seemed like the right thing to say at the right time, and I couldn't really improve on it.