The picture shows a photo of a fossil sample under a microscope
Chutian Metropolis Daily reporter Chen Jun correspondent Du Qiang Qindan
"How did early life originate?' What is the mystery of the Cambrian Explosion'? Professor Zhang Xingliang and Associate Professor Fu Dongjing of the Early Life and Environment Innovation Research Team of Northwest University spent 12 years investigating along the Qingjiang River, and on March 22, they officially published a paper in the most authoritative international journal "Science", and announced their research results to the world for the first time: the 518 million-year-old Cambrian specific buried soft body fossil bank - Qingjiang Biota was found in the Changyang area of Yichang.
On the 23rd, the Chutian Metropolis Daily reporter interviewed Zhang Xingliang and others and listened to him talk about the process of finding the mystery of life.
The expedition team found paleontological fossils
Known as the "unsolved case" of paleontology and geology, the Cambrian explosion of life gave birth to the vast majority of animal phylums in less than one percent of Earth's history, which puzzled Darwin, who proposed the theory of biological evolution.
Since 1909, with the discovery of Burgess shale-type fossil banks such as the Burgess biota in Canada and the Chengjiang biota in Yunnan, China, it has provided a scientific basis for studying the mystery of the "Cambrian explosion of life".
Changyang is located in the mountainous area of southwest Hubei, located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and qingjiang, with a wide distribution of Cambrian geological layers. Speaking of the process of discovering paleontological fossils 12 years ago, Associate Professor Fu Dongjing, the first author of the paper, was deeply moved. It was the summer vacation of 2007, and 25-year-old Dr. Fu Dongjing followed the field survey team led by Professor Zhang Xingliang to the Changyang area for scientific research. "Every day, we carried dry food and geological hammers around the roadless mountains for more than 20 miles, looking for more than ten days in a row." Fu Dongjing said that there was no big gain that day except for some shelled stones and sponges. It was nearly evening that day, ready to finish work, the team walked along the Danshui River, Zhang Xingliang looked down and said, "How good is this stone, knock it and come back!" As usual, everyone took out the geological hammer and clanged. Soon, Zhang Xingliang found a thumb-long half-worm fossil - Lin Joli worm.
Professor Zhang Xingliang recalled that the water washed the rock very cleanly in that place, and the structure and sedimentary structure of the rock were very clear, and a layer of light color and a layer of black could be seen. Based on his years of experience in studying Cambrian soft body fossils, it was judged at that time that such rocks must be able to preserve soft body fossils.
12 years in the mountains and waterside research
In the following 12 years, the early life and environmental innovation research team of Northwest University has long insisted on field excavation and indoor research, and has come to Changyang every year, and finally formed preliminary research results on the Qingjiang biota. The process of scientific expedition is no less than looking for beetles in a large wheat field, Zhang Xingliang, Fu Dongjing and the team of master's and doctoral students have spent 12 years in the "sea" 500 million years ago, found more than 20,000 "bugs". "The workers used the crowbar to pry out a stone the size of 1 cubic meter, and we used a geological hammer to split along the shale level, while splitting and watching, and when we found the bugs, we sorted, numbered, packed, carried out of the mountain, and brought back to the laboratory." Then clean up each piece, discuss, identify, classify, and record.
In the team's studio near the Danshui River in Changyang, the reporter zoomed in through the microscope and saw the ocean world 518 million years ago - some like jellyfish, like sea shrimp, like worms, or like watermelons, like flowers... It's weird and beautiful. Some even have textures of the antennae and abdomen clearly visible and come to life.
Half of the specimens are entirely new species
According to reports, the Qingjiang biota discovered this time, in 4351 fossil specimens, has been classified and identified 109 genera, of which 53% are new genera species that have never been recorded before. "We've only scratched the tip of the iceberg mystery, and it may take decades, or even generations, to follow." Zhang Xingliang said they will explore more unknown mysteries 518 million years ago through the study of the Qingjiang biota.
In the early morning of the 22nd, after the paper was published in the most authoritative international "Science" magazine, the column and journal published a review article entitled "Cambrian Fossil Treasures" that the Qingjiang biota is a shocking scientific discovery, the fossil abundance, diversity and fidelity are world-class, the scientific value is huge, and follow-up research will likely fill our cognitive gap and solve a series of scientific problems in the origin and evolution of animal phyla.