BEIJING, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese paleontologists discovered recently a new lagerstatte in Linyi City in north China and named it "Linyi Lagerstatte", which can be dated back to around 504 million years ago, reported Chinanews.com.cn citing news from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences on April 15.
Year to date, the discovery, reported by researcher Zhao Fangchen and doctoral student Sun Zhixin of the Cambrian explosion research team of the institute, has been published online in the review journal National Science Review and is expected to serve as a new window for research over the Cambrian explosion.
As researchers tell, the Cambrian explosion refers to an interval of time approximately 530 million years ago in the Cambrian period and is characterized by the emergence of phylum-level animal groups and the formation of modern marine ecosystems.
Issues related to the Cambrian explosion have always been the core of paleontological research, and the Cambrian-specific lagerstatte rich in exquisite multi-category soft-body fossils is the main window to understand this major biological evolution event.
At present, more than ten classic Cambrian lagerstattes have been discovered around the world. In particular, the discovery of Chengjiang lagerstatte in southwest China has made the south China block a relevant research hotspot, and new fossil banks are still emerging in recent years.
As Zhao Fangchen introduced, the north China block was an independent block during the Cambrian period with a unique tectonic evolution history. As the standard area of the Middle Cambrian, the stratigraphic sequence of the middle Cambrian here is complete and the fossils are rich, which is a potential area for searching for the lagerstatte in this period.
Recent years, the Cambrian explosion research team of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology has carried out a lot of field work in this area. They selected representative horizons and sections for centralized collection, and collected thousands of exquisite fossil specimens.
"More than 35 fossil taxa have been found in the Linyi lagerstatte, enriching the diversity of marine organisms and communities during this period. The most diverse taxa in the assemblage are non-trilobite arthropods, and among them the odd shrimp species and morrisons are the most striking," Zhao said. (Edited by Duan Jing with Xinhua Silk Road, duanjing@xinhua.org)
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