Biotic and sedimentologic evolution of the Cambrian

5亿年前的“寒武纪大爆发”是地球上生命的转折点：动物的出现，产生了贝壳、骨针、骨骼，有时甚至是软组织化石，加上新的微生物种类，所有这些都在海洋领域引起了深刻的生态革命。由于挖洞、颗粒化、有机结合和细菌腐烂的过程，沉积物发生了根本性的变化。第一批后生动物礁出现。我们通过将沉积学与古生物学相结合，以跨学科的方式解决这些现象，以便更充分地探索这一巨大但仍然神秘的进化事件。我们的天然实验室主要是科迪勒拉山脉和北极高地的壮丽暴露地层，尽管我们计划人工重现一些独特的沉积特征，这些特征在这个时候是如此独特。我们在基岩地质方面的工作是加拿大自然历史重要组成部分的必要文件，也是自然资源开发的重要背景。我们做分类工作描述三叶虫，腕足动物，软体动物，珊瑚和古珊瑚和硅质海绵，发现许多新物种，我们的目标是详细阐明生物相互作用，如捕食。我们的生物地层学数据允许密切的时间相关性，并揭示了多样化，灭绝和繁殖的模式。沉积特征和古生态学被用来比较的起源和演化的相和有机沉积过程，从以前的元古代通过早古生代的时间，零星此后。地震变形结构提供了新的见解，开发标准来区分海啸和风暴产生的床是开创性的。我们正在打造新的地面与伯吉斯页岩和各种热带碳酸盐礁，沙滩浅滩，滩涂和泻湖沉积。我们正在利用地球化学数据来揭示沉积物的来源和石化过程以及沉积盆地的构造历史。

The 'Cambrian Explosion' half a billion years ago was a turning point for life on Earth: the appearance of animals, which gave rise to fossils of shells, spicules, skeletons, even sometimes soft tissues, plus new kinds of microbes, all of which caused profound ecological revolution in the marine realm. Sediment changed fundamentally due to processes of burrowing, pelletization, organic binding and bacterial decay. The first metazoan reefs appeared. We address these phenomena in an interdisciplinary way by combining sedimentology with paleontology in order to explore more fully this tremendous yet still mysterious evolutionary episode. The natural laboratory for us is mainly the splendidly exposed strata of the Cordillera and high Arctic, although we plan to recreate artificially some of the peculiar sedimentary features that are so distinct for this time. Our work on the bedrock geology is necessary documentation of an important component of Canada's natural history as well as critical background for natural resource exploitation. We do taxonomic work describing the trilobites, brachiopods, soft-bodied animals, corals and archaeocyathan and siliceous sponges, finding many new species, and we aim to elucidate in detail biological interactions such as predation. Our biostratigraphic data permit close temporal correlation and reveal patterns of diversification, extinction and phylogeny. Sedimentary features and paleoecology are used to compare the origin and evolution of facies and organo-sedimentary processes from the preceding Proterozoic through early Paleozoic time, and sporadically thereafter. Earthquake deformation structures are providing novel insight, and developing criteria to differentiate tsunami- versus storm-generated beds is ground-breaking. We are forging new ground with the Burgess Shale and various tropical carbonate reef, sand shoal, tidal flat and lagoonal deposits. We are employing geochemical data to reveal the source and processes of lithification of sediments and the tectonic history of the basins into which they were deposited.