Ediacaran

/ ˌiːdiːˈækərən /

adjective

1. of, denoting, or formed in the last 50 million years of the Neoproterozoic era, during which a new texturally and chemically distinctive carbonate layer appeared, indicating climatic change

noun

1. the Ediacaran
   the Ediacaran period or rock system

Ediacaran

/ ē′dē-ä′kə-rən /

1. Relating to a group of fossilized organisms that are the earliest known remains of multicellular life. They are soft-bodied marine life forms that date from between 560 and 545 million years ago, during the late Precambrian Eon.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ediacaran¹

C20: named after the Ediacara Hills in the Flinders mountain range in South Australia

Example Sentences

His mother, University of California, Riverside, paleoecologist Mary Droser, was searching for fossilized remnants of animals from the Ediacaran era, stretching from approximately 635 million years ago to 541 million years ago, during which the first complex animals evolved.

From Science Magazine

"We know they didn't just appear out of nowhere, and so the ancestors of all ecdysozoans must have been present during the preceding Ediacaran period."

From Science Daily

Yet ecdysozoan fossil animals have remained hidden among scores of animal fossils paleontologists have discovered from the Ediacaran Period.

From Science Daily

Ediacaran animals, which lived 635-538 million years ago, were ocean dwellers; their remains preserved as cast-like impressions on the seabed that later hardened to rock.

From Science Daily

This excavation process has only been done at Nilpena Ediacara National Park in South Australia, a site Droser and her team have been working at for 25 years that is known for its beautifully preserved Ediacaran fossils.

From Science Daily