A New Period for the Geologic Time Scale

Andrew H. Knoll, et al.

Science 305, 621 (2004);
DOI: 10.1126/science.1098803

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 PERSPECTIVES
abiotic or biotic factors alone is likely to References 7. J. H. Connell, in Dynamics of Populations, P. J. den
provide only limited answers. In addition to 1. D. H. Janzen, Biotropica 6, 69 (1974). Boer, G. R. Gradwell, Eds. (Centre for Agricultural
2. P. V. A. Fine, I. Mesones, P. D. Coley, Science 305, 663 Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, Neth-
soils, the impact of herbivores on tropical (2004). erlands, 1971), pp. 298–312.
forests may vary with elevation and along 3. R. J. Marquis, in Biotic Interactions in the Tropics, D. 8. L. A. Hyatt et al., Oikos 103, 590 (2003).
gradients or discontinuities in soil flooding Burslem, M. Pinard, S. Hartley, Eds. (Cambridge Univ. 9. K. E. Harms et al., Nature 404, 493 (2000).
(10), light (11), and fire (12). But for now, Press, Cambridge, in press). 10. R. T. King, Biotropica 35, 462 (2003).
4. S. M. Louda, Ecol. Monogr. 52, 25 (1982). 11. S. J. DeWalt et al., Ecology 85, 471 (2004).
the Fine et al. work adds to the mounting
5. A. R. E. Sinclair, P. Arecese, Eds., Serengeti II, 12. H. T. Dublin, in Serengeti II, Dynamics, Management,
evidence that herbivory is a major factor Dynamics, Management, and Conservation of an and Conservation of an Ecosystem, A. R. E. Sinclair,
determining the plant composition of trop- Ecosystem (Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1995). P. Arecese, Eds. (Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago,
ical forests. 6. D. H. Janzen, Am. Nat. 104, 501 (1970). 1995), pp. 71–90.

GEOLOGY
ing Sokolov, Termier and Termier, and
Cloud and Glaessner (2)—have proposed
A New Period for formal definitions of this interval. Now, in
accordance with international rules, the

the Geologic Time Scale new period has been defined by an event
recorded in a single section of rock out-
cropping termed the global stratotype sec-
Andrew H. Knoll, Malcolm R. Walter, Guy M. Narbonne, Nicholas Christie-Blick tion and point (GSSP). (The GSSP is the
reference section that defines the “stan-

Downloaded from www.sciencemag.org on July 24, 2011

he geologic time scale stands as a ma- This tradition was swept aside in March dard” for recognition of the base of the new

T jor achievement of 19th-century sci- this year with the approval by IUGS of an period worldwide.) The initial GSSP of the
ence, a coherent record of our planet’s addition to the geologic time scale: the Ediacaran Period lies at the base of a textu-
history fashioned from myriad details of in- Ediacaran Period (2). This newly ratified rally and chemically distinctive carbonate
dividual rock outcroppings. The eras, peri- period, which directly precedes the layer that overlies glaciogenic rocks in an
ods, and finer divisions of the scale not only Cambrian, is the first Precambrian interval exposure along Enorama Creek in the
codify geologic time, they reflect our accu- to be defined according to the principles Flinders Ranges, South Australia (2) (see
mulated understanding of Earth’s past—or at that govern the Phanerozoic time scale. It is the figure). The period’s end coincides with
least its more recent past. The Cambrian also the first stratigraphically defined new the beginning of the Cambrian Period,
Period, with its fossil record of animal diver- period of any sort to be added since 1891 which is defined by its own initial GSSP re-
sification, began only 543 million years ago when Williams divided the Carboniferous siding in Newfoundland, Canada.
(Ma), when Earth was already 4000 million Period in two (Mississippian and Penn- Formalisms aside, international ratifica-
years old (see the figure). In the 19th centu- sylvanian). The distinctive character of the tion of the new period reflects our expand-
ry and for much of the 20th century, the be- Ediacaran interval has been recognized for ing knowledge of Earth’s deep physical and
ginning of the Cambrian (also the beginning decades, and numerous geologists—includ- biological history. The Ediacaran Period, in
of the Paleozoic era and the Phanerozoic fact, constitutes a dis-
Phanerozoic

eon) marked the most distant temporal tinct chapter in that

Cambrian

reaches of Earth’s tractable historical record. 530

history, bounded below
The absence of skeletonized fossils that by global ice ages and
mark Phanerozoic time made Precambrian Beginning of Cambrian above by the diversifi-
540
animal diversification
rocks difficult to correlate, and so the fine cation of animal life—
550 Oldest calcified animals
stratigraphic divisions of the younger record and characterized most
gave way to broad intervals that permitted Oldest animal burrows vividly by the unusual,
560
only limited insight into foundational events mostly soft-bodied fos-
of Earth history. In 1991, perhaps out of res- 570 Oldest macroscopic sils that give it its
Proterozoic
Ediacaran
Age (Ma)

ignation, the International Union of Geo- Ediacara biota name. The unique mor-
logical Sciences (IUGS) approved a division 580 Gaskiers glaciation phologies of the Edia-
of Precambrian time into eons, eras, and pe- cara biota have spawned
590
riods defined strictly by chronometric age, widely varying system-
without reference to events recorded in sedi- 600 Oldest animal embryos atic interpretations—
mentary rocks (1). The eras stuck, but the from giant protists and
proposed period names are seldom used. 610 lichens to seaweeds
and extinct experi-
620 Cap carbonate
ments in multicellulari-
“Cryogenian”

A. H. Knoll is in the Department of Organismic and ?

Marinoan glaciation
Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 630 ty. Most paleontolo-
MA 02138, USA. M. R. Walter is at the Australian gists, however, agree
Centre for Astrobiology, Department of Earth and 640 that the assemblage in-
Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney,
NSW 2109, Australia. G. M. Narbonne is in the cludes early cnidarian-
Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Looking for a few good rocks. (Left) Major events associated with grade animals, as well
Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario the Ediacaran Period. Brackets indicate uncertainty in the chronomet- as burrows and trails
K7L 3N6, Canada. N. Christie-Blick is in the ric age of the GSSP. (Right) The formally defined base (GSSP) of the and perhaps body fos-
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia
Ediacaran Period in Enorama Creek, Australia, is located at the contact sils of early bilateral
University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA. E-mail: of Marinoan glacial rocks and overlying Ediacaran cap carbonates (at organisms (bilaterians)
aknoll@oeb.harvard.edu the right foot of the geologist). (3).

www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 305 30 JULY 2004 621

 PERSPECTIVES
Dates are important. The beginning of the If Ediacaran fossils characterize the peri- ular variations in the composition of seawa-
period remains to be determined precisely, od, why don’t they define it? The simple an- ter that reflect not only global ice ages, but
but the uranium-lead (U-Pb) zircon dating swer is that the fossils are scarce and, conse- also biospheric oxidation and global tecton-
method gives a maximum age of 635.5 ± 1.2 quently, there are large uncertainties regard- ic events. Indeed, the Neoproterozoic has
Ma for zircons from volcanic ash within gla- ing correlation. Among sedimentary basins, emerged as a primary focus of Earth sys-
cial diamictites in Namibia (4). Meanwhile, a the first appearance of Ediacara-type fossils tems history, as scientists seek to understand
Pb-Pb date of 599 ± 4 Ma for postglacial can differ by 10 million years or more. This the complex interactions between planet and
phosphorites from China (5) provides a min- is why the Ediacaran Period departs rather life that gave rise to the Phanerozoic world.
imum age for the beginning of the Ediacaran abruptly from Phanerozoic convention in Testifying to this effort, the new Ediacaran
Period. The earliest known animal fossils— defining the beginning of the period by a cli- Period provides a first extension of the geo-
microscopic eggs, embryos, and segmented matic/geochemical event. The unusual de- logic time scale into Earth’s Precambrian
skeletal tubes—are found in the phosphorites pletion of 13C in the texturally striking car- past. It will not be the last.
(6). Following one last, regionally distributed bonates that veneer Marinoan glacial rocks
glaciation, moderately diverse macroscopic is recognized globally and widely accepted References
fossils appear in ~575 Ma rocks from as a paleoceanographic signature of rapid 1. K. A. Plumb, Episodes 14, 139 (1991).
2. A. H. Knoll et al., Lethaia, in press.
Newfoundland (7). Bilaterian animal trails deglaciation, although mechanistic interpre-
3. G. M. Narbonne, GSA Today 8, 1 (1998).
enter the record no later than 555 Ma, and tations differ (9, 10). More generally, large 4. K.-H. Hoffmann et al., Geology, in press.
calcified skeletons (of a distinctively secular variations in the isotopic composi- 5. G. H. Barfod et al., Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 201, 203
Ediacaran, not Cambrian, aspect) by 549 Ma tions of carbon, sulfur, and strontium have (2002).
(8). Ediacaran assemblages persisted until the come to play an important part in the corre- 6. S. Xiao, A. H. Knoll, J. Paleontol. 74, 767 (2000).
7. G. M. Narbonne, J. G. Gehling, Geology 31, 27 (2003).
end of the period, separated from Cambrian lation of Neoproterozoic (1000 to 543 Ma) 8. M. W. Martin et al., Science 288, 841 (1998).

Downloaded from www.sciencemag.org on July 24, 2011

diversification by a major, short-lived pertur- sedimentary rocks. This works well because 9. P. F. Hoffman, D. P. Schrag, Terra Nova 14, 129 (2002).
bation in the carbon isotopic record. younger Proterozoic strata record huge sec- 10. G. Q. Jiang et al., Nature 426, 822 (2003).

P L A N E TA R Y S C I E N C E
On the basis of the wide ranges in com-
position, mineralogy, texture, and cosmic-
A Unique Chunk of the Moon ray exposure ages, the 30 lunar meteorites
likely represent at least 20 impacts on the
Randy L. Korotev lunar surface, although the crater of origin
is not known for any of them. For any giv-
n 1982 a team of U.S. scientists collecting although three others not yet classified had en lunar meteorite, the fact that we don’t

I meteorites in Antarctica found a fragment

of the Moon. The 31-g meteorite, now
called Allan Hills (ALHA) 81005, had once
been collected in Antarctica 3 years earlier by
a team from the Japanese National Institute
of Polar Research. Since 1979, about 30 lu-
know where on the Moon it originates is a
serious detriment to geologic interpretation
of data derived from the stone. However,
been a rock or a piece of a rock that existed nar meteorites have been found, all in deserts. the meteorites are samples from many ran-
at or near the Moon’s surface. At some time On page 657 of this issue, Gnos et al. (2) de- dom locations, and this characteristic pro-
in the past, a meteoroid collided with the scribe the most unique lunar meteorite found vides important information not available
Moon and accelerated the rock to lunar es- to date. This 206-g stone, known as Sayh al from the Apollo samples, all of which were
cape velocity. After orbiting Earth for less Uhaymir (SaU) 169, was found in the collected on six missions to the central
than 200,000 years, the rock was captured by Sultanate of Oman in January 2002. nearside (see the figure).
Earth’s gravitational field, landed in 90°
Antarctica, and was buried by snow. There it
became a miniscule part of a huge glacier,
which also carried other meteorites that had
fallen over the years. The glacier’s flow is im- 45°
peded by the Transantarctic Mountains, and
5
North latitude

near the mountains meteorites are continual- 7

ly exposed at the surface as wind and sun ab-
– 0° 1
late and sublime away the ice that encases 24 6
them. The collecting team immediately rec-
ognized that ALHA 81005 did not look like
the other meteorites that they were collecting, – 45°
all of which were fragments of asteroids.
Meteorite curators at the NASA Johnson – 0.3 0.9 2.1 3.3 4.5 5.7 6.9 8.1 9.3 10.5 11.7

Space Center, having seen a lot of Moon

rocks from the Apollo missions, suspected – 90°
– 180° – 135° – 90° – 45° 0° 45° 90° 135° 180°
that it was a Moon rock. Further studies have
confirmed their suspicion (1). The stone was East longitude
the first to be recognized as a lunar meteorite, Rich in radioactive elements. Distribution of thorium on the lunar surface [adapted from (5)].
Color scale shows thorium abundance in µg/g. The numbers represent the locations of the six Apollo
landing sites (1 = Apollo 11, 2 = Apollo 12, and so on; landing sites 2 and 4 are adjacent). The ellipse
The author is in the Department of Earth and
Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. indicates the position of the Imbrium basin. The center of the figure is the center of the nearside, as
Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. E-mail: korotev@ viewed from Earth. Most of the Moon’s thorium and other incompatible elements are concentrat-
wustl.edu ed in the northwest quadrant of the nearside.

622 30 JULY 2004 VOL 305 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org