Ediacaran

Definition

Of a geologic period within the Neoproterozoic era from about 620 to 542 million years ago.

Etymology

From Ediacara + -an. After the Ediacara Hills in South Australia; from an Australian Aboriginal term (details disputed). See Ediacara Hills on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Example Sentences

• "The widespread discoveries of fossil remains of Ediacaran aspect have generated continued excitement in respect of their possible evolutionary significance, and in terms of recent surrealistic interpretations of their morphology and inferred interrelationships (Pflug, 1970a,b, 1972a,b; Fedonkin, 1985 a,b; Gould, 1984, 1985; Seilacher, 1984, 1985, 1989; McMenamin, 1986; and Bergstrom, 1989, 1990), a reexamination of the actual fossil material is timely."
• "Swartpuntia (frondlike metazoans) and Ernietta (ribbed saclike metazoans) are part of the Ediacaran fauna."
• "Then in 1946, fossils of multicellular organisms were recovered from Vendian deposits around 570My old at the Ediacara copper mine in South Australia. Since then, geologists have found similar Ediacaran faunas in Precambrian rocks from other parts of the world as well."