© bOURNE uNIVERSITY 2021

Astonishing treasure of thousands of

four billion year old fossils found in

Antarctica prove earlier life on Earth

• Thousands of unknown species of fossilized creatures found near Mt. Thiel • Genus dating back over 4 billion years old found on the Bermel Escarpment • Paleontologists report the discovery leans to an earlier 'Archean Explosion" • Scientists stated 320 new species were discovered, 34 known of 20,000 fossils Digitally enhanced panorama of one of the many quarry locations of the Bermel Escarpment. Scientists uncovered large varieties of animals in the find, which point to an earlier biological development of life on Earth. The site is reported to be over 3 billion years old. A “stunning” treasure of unidentiied fossils that scientists say disrupts the current ideas of evolution and testifies an earlier appearance of lifeforms on Earth more than four and a half billion years ago has been discovered by researchers in Antarctica. Scientists identified the treasure trove of fossils in rocks on the cliffs of the Bermel Escarpment near the Thiel Mountains in Western Antarctica, where researchers noticed on ridges the familiar sedimentary patterns where ancient mudflows once surged - then possibly entombed - primordial lifeforms in preserved states. Some 2,232 specimens were uncovered in the startling discovery, identifying 34 known animal species and eight plant. Around 90 percent of these were unknown to science, which could rewrite the current understanding of evolution and how life began much sooner than was initially believed on the ancient Earth. Among the epic records where gigantic and highly evolved forms of anthropods, corals, worms, invertebrates, anomalocaridids, sauropsida, caryophyllales and hundreds of mysterious and unidentified species with unexplained whips, appendeges and tubercles that were buried in the ancient land and water environment and then preserved in mud and sand. Palaeontologists are using a number of techniques to reconstruct the structure of the Bermel Escarpment animals. The astounding diversity and gigantism of the specimens have baffled on how such early organisms shown could be highly developed. A. an massive arthropod with stinging mandibles belonging to the Chilopoda class (6 meters) B. A short legged arthropod of the Araneae, related to spiders ( 4 meters) C. A land crustacean of the Malacostraca order (8 meters) D. Armored fish from the Latimeria order (9 meters) E. An armored land "crab" of the Limulidae order (12 meters) F. Another Limulidae animal of the same order as E (7 meters) G. A subphylum Myriapoda from the class Diplopod (8 meters) H. A massive 'hookworm' like animal belonging to the Ancylostoma class (11 meters). The most famous sites relating to the Cambrian Explosion have been the Emu Bay Shale in Australia, the Burgess Shale found in 1909 in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the Chengjiang Fossil Site located in the Yunnan Providence of China. The Qingjiang site near the Danshui River in the Hubei province of China, found in 2019 is the most recent find dating back some 508 million years. But scientists officially report this discovery eclipses all known Cambrian fossil finds with the new evidences of what is now being called the new "Archean Explosion". Unlike other Cambrian fossil troves, the Bermel Escarpment site is unique in that it not only includes well-preserved fossils but demonstrates more highly developed specimens than were believed never to have existed during the period, the report states. Among the astounding finds were also plant specimens related to the Droseraceae family, of which modern carnivorous plants as Venus Fly Traps, Pitcher plants and Sundews belong. Botanists are overwhelmed by the discovery as these specimens were capable of independent, sentient movement. The 'appendages' of each specimen appear to be long barbs or stingers. (Left) Size 5 meters, and (right) 8 meters, extended. Researcher Jennifer Hagens of Berlin's Institute of Earth Sciences has been requesting since August for the site to be restricted until further analysis provides the initial data for formal written presentation to the Nobel Council of Associated Sciences. Professor Marin Langguth, a paleontologist with research interest in the Archean Explosion at the University of Staffordshire in England, was not a contributor to the offical report but wrote a paper that praised the decision. He wrote: "The find at the Thiel Mountains confirms that the comparative sample of the continential interior has attracted attention in the recent speculation of an Archean continent assembled from Australia, India and sections of the Indian Ocean's seafloor". (Main) A portion of the Bermel Escarpment where the Archean fossil sheets were uncovered. (Insert) Thiel Mountain location on Antarctic continent, showing the remote position of the site. The nearest American or Russian base is over 800 miles, mostly under impassable ice sheets and geological barriers. The experts said that the Mawson Craton - an ancient piece of continential crust of which Antarctica is a part 'does indeed exhibit the primordial radioactivity arising from the rocks that is typically seen in ancient crust samples, indicating that the soil of the craton was formed over four billion years ago'. They went onto explain how the evidence suggests that the cratons are remains of a newly speculated supercontinent that arose around the same ancient period. “While there may be variations in biological and evolution that deny implicitly the once believed harsh environmental conditions in which these animals were living or thriving, there is a strong recurrent proof of a more early atmospheric and geologically stable Earth,” said the scientists in the official report. "The fossils are predominantly more evolved and larger in size that thier modern variants now found in our modern era." "This is not witnessed in living organisms that are several billion years old and unheard of for evolution to regress to lesser biological states (e.g. becoming smaller)." Further revelations of the Bermel Escarpment finds show some animals not belonging to any known class and likely ended in extinct evolutionary lines. I. A possible artiopodan from the class Trilobita. (3 meters) J. A possible Acastidae also from the Trilobita class. (4 meters) K. An as yet unknown form not recognized in current animal classification (2 meters) L. A land Protostegidae variation of the Archelon family, with six legs (5 meters) M. Another unknown species, yet to be provided with genus or classification. (3 meters). 'This provides very positive testimony that the fossils are of great age, consistent with the structures of the cratons and earlier sattelite research that evidence an "active" age of over four billion years old'. Researchers say the uncovering of the Bermel Escarpment may preceed further fossil discoveries, such as in the Canadian or Laurentian Shield in Canada, the Angaran Shield of West Siberia and the Amazonian Shield of central South America. But the Thiel Mountains recently yielded secrets from the Eoarchean are now the world's first and well-preserved fossils that show evidence of an unknown era of familar animals, plants and unknown species. Researchers will be traveling to Antarctica to study the new Bermel discoveries and uncover what they can discover about this new explosion of lifeforms in a time once thought to be dominated by molten crusts, new landmasses and microscopic organisms. The full report was published in the journal Science and Geology Today.

WHEN WAS THE 'CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION'?

The Burgess Shale location in the Canadian Rocky Mountains is known as the Burgess Pass, located in British Columbia's Yoho National Park. The finest examples of Cambrian fossils have been discovered here on Mount Stephen since 1886, when they were found by a worker. (Insert left) Archaeologists working one of the remote digs. (Insert right) A Hallucigenia fossil. The "Cambrian Explosion", a period when a large variety of complex animal forms appeared over the Earth, occured some 540 million years ago. Scientists have long believed that the atmopsheric oxygen content in the Proterozoicis eonthen was responsible for the evolutionary development of small organisms to modern life. Evidence of these life forms, not speculated, have been in found in fossil shale beds like the Burgess Shale in Canada, the The Qingjiang fossil bed in China and the Australia’s Emu Bay Shale. Over some 400 million years, the Earth's climate enviorment was able to accomadate the development of more diverse types of animal species, evolving into what forms we have today. But during the following Ordovician extinction event, some 488 million years ago, many species died as a result, leaving speculation of what type of strange animals could be living had they survived.

WHEN WAS THE EOARCHEAN ERA?

The Earth as it appeared according to modern science 4 billion years ago. The Eoarchean era was the first era of the Archean in geological history when the Earth had first formed an atmosphere, landmasses and the oceans. Scientists believe despite the harsh enviormental conditions over 4.5 billion years ago, not long after the Hadean era and the formation of the planet, some life may have begun there. But these were restricted to cyanobacteria dated some 3600 million years ago which appeared shortly after this chaotic period and was accepted as the beginning of life. It was here that the continents began to appear over billions of years, changing with the ever moving destructions of plate tectonics untl what we have today. The Eoarchean was followed by the Proterozoicis eon, where the appearance of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere and complex life forms such as trilobites or corals was believed to have arrived on the Earth.

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© bOURNE uNIVERSITY 2021

Astonishing treasure

of thousands of four

billion year old

fossils found in

Antarctica prove

earlier life on Earth

• Thousands of unknown species of fossilized creatures found near Mt. Thiel • Genus dating back over 4 billion years old found on the Bermel Escarpment • Paleontologists report the discovery leans to an earlier 'Archean Explosion" • Scientists stated 320 new species were discovered, 34 known of 20,000 fossils Digitally enhanced panorama of one of the many quarry locations of the Bermel Escarpment. Scientists uncovered large varieties of animals in the find, which point to an earlier biological development of life on Earth. The site is reported to be over 3 billion years old. A “stunning” treasure of unidentiied fossils that scientists say disrupts the current ideas of evolution and testifies an earlier appearance of lifeforms on Earth more than four and a half billion years ago has been discovered by researchers in Antarctica. Scientists identified the treasure trove of fossils in rocks on the cliffs of the Bermel Escarpment near the Thiel Mountains in Western Antarctica, where researchers noticed on ridges the familiar sedimentary patterns where ancient mudflows once surged - then possibly entombed - primordial lifeforms in preserved states. Some 2,232 specimens were uncovered in the startling discovery, identifying 34 known animal species and eight plant. Around 90 percent of these were unknown to science, which could rewrite the current understanding of evolution and how life began much sooner than was initially believed on the ancient Earth. Among the epic records where gigantic and highly evolved forms of anthropods, corals, worms, invertebrates, anomalocaridids, sauropsida, caryophyllales and hundreds of mysterious and unidentified species with unexplained whips, appendeges and tubercles that were buried in the ancient land and water environment and then preserved in mud and sand. Palaeontologists are using a number of techniques to reconstruct the structure of the Bermel Escarpment animals. The astounding diversity and gigantism of the specimens have baffled on how such early organisms shown could be highly developed. A. an massive arthropod with stinging mandibles belonging to the Chilopoda class (6 meters) B. A short legged arthropod of the Araneae, related to spiders ( 4 meters) C. A land crustacean of the Malacostraca order (8 meters) D. Armored fish from the Latimeria order (9 meters) E. An armored land "crab" of the Limulidae order (12 meters) F. Another Limulidae animal of the same order as E (7 meters) G. A subphylum Myriapoda from the class Diplopod (8 meters) H. A massive 'hookworm' like animal belonging to the Ancylostoma class (11 meters). The most famous sites relating to the Cambrian Explosion have been the Emu Bay Shale in Australia, the Burgess Shale found in 1909 in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the Chengjiang Fossil Site located in the Yunnan Providence of China. The Qingjiang site near the Danshui River in the Hubei province of China, found in 2019 is the most recent find dating back some 508 million years. But scientists officially report this discovery eclipses all known Cambrian fossil finds with the new evidences of what is now being called the new "Archean Explosion". Unlike other Cambrian fossil troves, the Bermel Escarpment site is unique in that it not only includes well-preserved fossils but demonstrates more highly developed specimens than were believed never to have existed during the period, the report states. Among the astounding finds were also plant specimens related to the Droseraceae family, of which modern carnivorous plants as Venus Fly Traps, Pitcher plants and Sundews belong. Botanists are overwhelmed by the discovery as these specimens were capable of independent, sentient movement. The 'appendages' of each specimen appear to be long barbs or stingers. (Left) Size 5 meters, and (right) 8 meters, extended. Researcher Jennifer Hagens of Berlin's Institute of Earth Sciences has been requesting since August for the site to be restricted until further analysis provides the initial data for formal written presentation to the Nobel Council of Associated Sciences. Professor Marin Langguth, a paleontologist with research interest in the Archean Explosion at the University of Staffordshire in England, was not a contributor to the offical report but wrote a paper that praised the decision. He wrote: "The find at the Thiel Mountains confirms that the comparative sample of the continential interior has attracted attention in the recent speculation of an Archean continent assembled from Australia, India and sections of the Indian Ocean's seafloor". (Main) A portion of the Bermel Escarpment where the Archean fossil sheets were uncovered. (Insert) Thiel Mountain location on Antarctic continent, showing the remote position of the site. The nearest American or Russian base is over 800 miles, mostly under impassable ice sheets and geological barriers. The experts said that the Mawson Craton - an ancient piece of continential crust of which Antarctica is a part 'does indeed exhibit the primordial radioactivity arising from the rocks that is typically seen in ancient crust samples, indicating that the soil of the craton was formed over four billion years ago'. They went onto explain how the evidence suggests that the cratons are remains of a newly speculated supercontinent that arose around the same ancient period. “While there may be variations in biological and evolution that deny implicitly the once believed harsh environmental conditions in which these animals were living or thriving, there is a strong recurrent proof of a more early atmospheric and geologically stable Earth,” said the scientists in the official report. "The fossils are predominantly more evolved and larger in size that thier modern variants now found in our modern era." "This is not witnessed in living organisms that are several billion years old and unheard of for evolution to regress to lesser biological states (e.g. becoming smaller)." Further revelations of the Bermel Escarpment finds show some animals not belonging to any known class and likely ended in extinct evolutionary lines. I. A possible artiopodan from the class Trilobita. (3 meters) J. A possible Acastidae also from the Trilobita class. (4 meters) K. An as yet unknown form not recognized in current animal classification (2 meters) L. A land Protostegidae variation of the Archelon family, with six legs (5 meters) M. Another unknown species, yet to be provided with genus or classification. (3 meters). 'This provides very positive testimony that the fossils are of great age, consistent with the structures of the cratons and earlier sattelite research that evidence an "active" age of over four billion years old'. Researchers say the uncovering of the Bermel Escarpment may preceed further fossil discoveries, such as in the Canadian or Laurentian Shield in Canada, the Angaran Shield of West Siberia and the Amazonian Shield of central South America. But the Thiel Mountains recently yielded secrets from the Eoarchean are now the world's first and well- preserved fossils that show evidence of an unknown era of familar animals, plants and unknown species. Researchers will be traveling to Antarctica to study the new Bermel discoveries and uncover what they can discover about this new explosion of lifeforms in a time once thought to be dominated by molten crusts, new landmasses and microscopic organisms. The full report was published in the journal Science and Geology Today.

WHEN WAS THE 'CAMBRIAN

EXPLOSION'?

The Burgess Shale location in the Canadian Rocky Mountains is known as the Burgess Pass, located in British Columbia's Yoho National Park. The finest examples of Cambrian fossils have been discovered here on Mount Stephen since 1886, when they were found by a worker. (Insert left) Archaeologists working one of the remote digs. (Insert right) A Hallucigenia fossil. The "Cambrian Explosion", a period when a large variety of complex animal forms appeared over the Earth, occured some 540 million years ago. Scientists have long believed that the atmopsheric oxygen content in the Proterozoicis eonthen was responsible for the evolutionary development of small organisms to modern life. Evidence of these life forms, not speculated, have been in found in fossil shale beds like the Burgess Shale in Canada, the The Qingjiang fossil bed in China and the Australia’s Emu Bay Shale. Over some 400 million years, the Earth's climate enviorment was able to accomadate the development of more diverse types of animal species, evolving into what forms we have today. But during the following Ordovician extinction event, some 488 million years ago, many species died as a result, leaving speculation of what type of strange animals could be living had they survived.

WHEN WAS THE EOARCHEAN

ERA?

The Earth as it appeared according to modern science 4 billion years ago. The Eoarchean era was the first era of the Archean in geological history when the Earth had first formed an atmosphere, landmasses and the oceans. Scientists believe despite the harsh enviormental conditions over 4.5 billion years ago, not long after the Hadean era and the formation of the planet, some life may have begun there. But these were restricted to cyanobacteria dated some 3600 million years ago which appeared shortly after this chaotic period and was accepted as the beginning of life. It was here that the continents began to appear over billions of years, changing with the ever moving destructions of plate tectonics untl what we have today. The Eoarchean was followed by the Proterozoicis eon, where the appearance of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere and complex life forms such as trilobites or corals was believed to have arrived on the Earth.

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