Cambrian

541-485 M.a.

Cambrian derives its name from rock outcrops in an area of the United Kingdom which the Romans called Cambria.

Pannotia has broken up into four continents: Laurentia (approximately America and Greenland), Baltica (approximately Northern Europe), Siberia and Gondwana. The latter is a supercontinent containing South America, Africa, India, Australia, Antarctica and much of Asia and Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula.

In a short period of time, in geological terms, an explosion of life occurs. The main groups of marine invertebrates appear: arthropods, molluscs, brachiopods, annelids and the first jawless vertebrates, among others. Many of them fossilise well because they have shells and have left us characteristic fossils like trilobites or archaeocyathids.

Opabinia, a marine arthropod specimen.

Reproduction of Cambrian fauna.