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Community from 530m years ago
August 5, 2012, Sunday
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A hilly 5.12-square-kilometers site in Yunnan Province, Chengjiang's fossils present the most complete record of an early Cambrian marine community, with exceptionally preserved specimens. Discovered in 1984, the site documents at least 196 species - including a variety of enigmatic groups - presenting exceptional testimony to the rapid diversification of life on Earth 530 million years ago.
The property displays excellent quality of fossil preservation, including the soft and hard tissue of animals with hard skeletons, along with a wide array of organisms that were entirely soft-bodied. Almost all of the soft-bodied species are unknown elsewhere.
Detailed preservation includes features such as the alimentary systems of the likes of the arthropod Naraoia, and the delicate gills of the enigmatic Yunnanozoon. The sediments also provide the oldest-known fossil chordates - the evolutionary branch to which all vertebrates belong.
The fossils and rocks of the Chengjiang fossil site are one of the earliest records of a complex marine ecosystem, with food webs capped by sophisticated predators. Moreover, it demonstrates that complex community structures had developed very early in the Cambrian diversification of animal life, and provides evidence of ecological niches. The Chengjiang fossil site has been approved to join the World Heritage List at the 36th World Heritage Conference held in St Petersburg, Russia last month. This is China's first fossil site to be included.
The property displays excellent quality of fossil preservation, including the soft and hard tissue of animals with hard skeletons, along with a wide array of organisms that were entirely soft-bodied. Almost all of the soft-bodied species are unknown elsewhere.
Detailed preservation includes features such as the alimentary systems of the likes of the arthropod Naraoia, and the delicate gills of the enigmatic Yunnanozoon. The sediments also provide the oldest-known fossil chordates - the evolutionary branch to which all vertebrates belong.
The fossils and rocks of the Chengjiang fossil site are one of the earliest records of a complex marine ecosystem, with food webs capped by sophisticated predators. Moreover, it demonstrates that complex community structures had developed very early in the Cambrian diversification of animal life, and provides evidence of ecological niches. The Chengjiang fossil site has been approved to join the World Heritage List at the 36th World Heritage Conference held in St Petersburg, Russia last month. This is China's first fossil site to be included.
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