The Precambrian-Cambrian Biosphere (R)evolution: Insights from Chinese Microcontinents

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The Precambrian-Cambrian boundary (PCB), the events leading up to it and the subsequent bioradiation(s) continue to be an enigma in Earth History and demonstrate that we are still unable to convincingly explain the mechanisms and large-scale interactions between the bio-, hydro-, atmo- and geosphere on our planet even at a fundamental level. Although considerable advances have been made in documenting changes and hypotheses abound, many studies tend to focus on narrow aspects or apply a limited set of techniques and tools and are therefore vulnerable to alternative explanations. Our studies over the past three years, in contrast, have the ambition and structure to be regionally and disciplinarily firmly integrated. In continuing our Forschergruppe, we suggest to consolidate our knowledge and understanding of Ediacaran and Cambrian processes and environments based on the classical Yangtze Craton sections, to selectively modify research methods and to expand into other regions in order to generalize our knowledge.