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Cambrian Explosion Becomes More Explosive

Blog by Hugh Ross ( January 17, 2022 )

… a total of 30 phyla that comprise all Earth’s life. The Cambrian explosion, more than a half-billion years ago, saw the sudden appearance of all, or virtually all, these 30 phyla plus many more that became extinct. Estimates of the total number of phyla that appeared in the Cambrian explosion event range from 50 to 100.1 The new phyla that appeared in the Cambrian explosion (a largely marine event) included the first animals to possess skeletons, digestive tracts, circulatory systems, and complex internal and external organs. Not until the Cambrian explosion was there sufficient oxygen in Earth …

Evolution

Cambrian Explosion and Evolutionists’ Responses">

The Cambrian Explosion and Evolutionists’ Responses

Blog by Hugh Ross ( July 27, 2016 )

… theoretically permitted by the laws of physics, 146 appear in the Cambrian explosion fossils.
The Cambrian explosion marks the first appearance of animals with skeletons, bilateral symmetry, appendages, brains, eyes, and digestive tracts that include mouths and anuses.
Virtually every eye design that has ever existed appears simultaneously in the Cambrian explosion.
The moment oxygen levels in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans permit the existence of Cambrian animals, they suddenly appear.
The Cambrian explosion occurs simultaneously with the drastic change in sea chemistry known as the Great Unconformity.
The Cambrian explosion includes the most advanced of the animal phyla, chordates …

Biology

Modern Brains Emerged in the Cambrian Explosion

Publication by Hugh Ross ( December 8, 2015 )

The Avalon and Cambrian explosions, events that marked the sudden appearance of myriad complex life-forms, present two of the biggest challenges to the evolutionary theory. Now a new discovery makes the Cambrian explosion an even more profound difficulty for evolutionists to account for.
In examining fossils from this mass speciation event, it was discovered that Cambrian animals not only possessed modern eye designs but also modern brain designs. For decades, the only evidence for ancient brains came from animals preserved in amber, dated no earlier than 230 million years ago. Then in 2008, a team of Chinese paleontologists found …

Design

Cambrian Explosion Brings Burst of Evidence for Creation">

Cambrian Explosion Brings Burst of Evidence for Creation

Publication by Hugh Ross ( January 2, 2013 )

… could—and did—suddenly burst upon the scene by God’s creative power.
This portion of the biblical creation story bears a remarkable resemblance to an event called the Cambrian explosion. Some 543 million years ago, the number of Earth’s animal phyla (a phylum designates life-forms sharing the same basic body plan) increased dramatically. Somewhere between 50 and 80 percent of all animal phyla ever to exist appeared in what astronomers and geologists would describe as “an instant” of time. The discovery of Cambrian fossils may be considered one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of paleontology.

Design

The “Great Unconformity” and the Cambrian Explosion Conform to the Genesis 1 Creation Account

Publication by Fazale “Fuz” Rana ( June 11, 2012 )

… continents on day three—before animals appear in the oceans.
New work by geologists from the University of Wisconsin and Pomona College (Claremont, CA) help answer my question.1 And with this answer comes added support for the scientific accuracy of the Genesis 1 creation account.
These researchers believe that the geological processes, which produced the so-called Great Unconformity in the geological record, may have triggered the Cambrian explosion.
The Cambrian Explosion
The Cambrian explosion describes a dramatic event in life’s history about 540 million years ago when 50 to 80 percent of the known animal phyla appeared

Design

Cambrian Explosion">

TNRTB Classic: Skeletons in the Cambrian Explosion

Publication by Fazale “Fuz” Rana ( May 17, 2012 )

A few days ago, I wrote about a recent discovery that highlights the challenge that specific features of the Cambrian explosion pose for the evolutionary paradigm. This discovery is not the first of its kind. Over the last couple of decades a number of findings call attention to the difficulties the Cambrian explosion creates for the theory of evolution. Here is a link to an article that describes another such discovery:

“The Explosive Appearance of Skeletal Designs”

Design

Cambrian Explosion">

Increase of Atmospheric Oxygen Preceded Cambrian Explosion

Publication by Hugh Ross ( May 25, 2006 )

TNRTB Archive – Retained for reference information
Biological and geochemical causes of an increase in atmospheric oxygen before the Cambrian explosion reveal fine-tuning in Earth’s biosphere. The larger complex mammals that arrived suddenly ~550 million years ago (during the Cambrian explosion) required an increase in atmospheric oxygen (which occurred around 600 million years ago) to survive. A team of scientists has provided evidence that a more abundant and diverse land-based biosphere fundamentally changed the weathering cycle of continental land masses. Consequently, an increase in clays provided more efficient burial of carbon, which otherwise reacts with oxygen. So, the …

Evolution

Does Microevolution Plus Time Equal Macroevolution?

Publication by Hugh Ross ( July 26, 2023 )

… to be kept constant and stable throughout the needed time period, which is not the case. See our books Origins of Life and Improbable Planet for details and documentation.

In the case of biological evolution, there are at least several instances in the fossil record, for example, the Avalon and Cambrian explosions, where the observed macroevolutionary changes occur without any measurable passage of time and later, after the passage of much time, the microevolutionary changes occur. In these instances, the diversification of phyla occurs first and simultaneously. Later, over a long time period, the diversification of species and genera occurs …

Evolution

Does Naturalism Explain the Fossil Record?

Blog by Hugh Ross ( March 20, 2023 )

Any scientific model that seeks legitimacy must explain the origin and history of life. And thanks to mounting evidence, much is known about life’s history. Does that knowledge support naturalism or does supernatural creation seem more reasonable?

Darwin’s ClaimNaturalism is the hypothesis that strictly natural processes explain the origin and history of all species of life that have ever existed on Earth. With the publication of Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species1 (1859) naturalism eventually became mainstream science. Darwin claimed that all life arose by common descent through a gradual branching pattern of evolution driven …

Evolution

Are There Precambrian Challenges to Naturalistic Evolution?

Publication by Hugh Ross ( September 23, 2022 )

Question of the week: Are there any significant challenges to naturalistic evolution that predate the Cambrian explosion?

My answer: There are many. The origin of Earth’s first life, the origin of photosynthesis, the origin and proliferation of sulfate-reducing bacteria, the origin of eukaryotes, the origin of sex, the origin of cryptogamic soils, and the origin of the first large-bodied animals (the first and second Avalon explosions) are a few of the most outstanding pre-Cambrian challenges to naturalistic evolutionary models for the origin and history of life. In addition to these biological challenges, many features of the …

Evolution