Re: 500 million year old poo


"Jo Schaper" <joschapern4ospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1286cohg0fdhd5f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aidan Karley wrote:

http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=3542&date=20060412

Published: 12th April 2006 18:14 CET

Swedish scientists have found half-billion-year-old droppings thought to
be from an aquatic worm and hope the discovery will contribute to the
understanding of prehistoric ecosystems, researchers announced on
Wednesday.



Some people think that the development of guts capable of
producing pelleted poo was a major geochemical event, with the high mass
of coprolites and their high organic content acting in synergy to remove
carbon from the atmosphere and biosphere, helping O2 levels to climb
around the start of the Phanerozoic (reasonably well accepted, these
days), and so enabling the development of new, more complex body plans.

Wanna get a sedimentologist really excited? Say "bioturbation"!! A big
word for 'sediments with worm poo in it."

I never met a glauconinite I didn't like. lol

George


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