| Increased amounts of nutrients such as carbon would be dumped into the oceans, which would aid species' development. |
| True Polar Wander would result in the following: |
| The quickly moving landmasses would be unable to form beaches. As a result, hard bottomed shallows (creatures that live in shallow pools of water) would be common. The formation of these shallows would facilitate the development of Archaeocyatha and Hyolithids, which need a solid surface to attach to. Once colonies of these two phyla were established, other organisms such as Annelids, Mollusks, Brachiopods, and Trilobites could flourish. |
| Existing ecosystems would be broken apart, allowing island dynamics to take over. |
| High specialization rates would occur due to the lack of competition for creatures in these new shallow water areas. |
| The formation of the first "predators" would force further development of speicies. |
| Evidence to support the Theory of a Polar Wander include: |
| The discovery of fossils in mid-continent locations indicates that the creatures were subjected to continental drift throughout history. |
| Geological studies in Australia and North America show that minerals between 534-505 million years old face 90 degrees away from the Earth's axis. This means that the Earth's surface has shifted drastically since Cambrian time. |
| If the Earth shifted this way, continents would be moving over ten times as fast as they do today. This would lead to drastic climatic changes dring the Cambrian Period. |
| The Hypothesized ecological conditions during the Cambrian Period, if present today, would spur the development of species. So there is no reason to think that speices wouldn't be foced to adapt over 500 millions years ago under the same conditions. |
| Other Theories about the Cambrian Explosion: |
| Oxygen levels in Earth's atmosphere reached a crucial level that allowed more advanced life to develop. |
| Animals accumulated an over abundance of the "Hox" gene, which allowed them to instantly form new body types. |
| The fossil record has not been completed for the reason that organisms have not yet been found. This could be because soft skeletal structures were unable to fssilize or because organisms were too small for scientists to find as of yet. |
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| True Polar Wander occurs when the entire surface of the Earth shifts relative to the interior. This reconstruction shows how the continents moved relative to the Earth's axis at the beginning of the Cambrian. Go to the home page to see a video clip of this planetary change. |
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| THEORIES |
