Extinct for 510 million years, Cambrian monster "reappears" intact

(NLDO) - A "Cambrian Pompeii" has just been found in Morocco, where monsters from more than half a billion years ago appear in perfect 3D form.

An international team of researchers has found the most complete fossils ever found of a trilobite, a tiny but important beast on the evolutionary tree of Earth's creatures.

The hard, calcified exoskeletons of trilobites have been commonly found before, but the new fossils are astonishing because they show perfect preservation of soft tissues, with even small structures like bristles intact.

Cambrian "ocean monsters" in a volcanic disaster 510 million years ago - Photo: SCIENCE

According to Sci-News, unlike most fossils which are usually skeletons or one side of the body pressed or "sculpted" into rock, the fossil in Morocco is a completely lifelike 3D statue.

This unusual trilobite colony in Morocco's High Atlas region was created by a catastrophic volcanic event 510 million years ago.

Hot ash from the volcano suddenly fell into the sea where these trilobites were swimming, enveloping them instantly, causing their entire bodies to rapidly fossilize in the exact shape they were in when they were trying to escape the volcano.

The ash molds preserve individual body parts, legs, and even hair-like structures running along the appendages.

3D fossils excavated in Morocco - Photo: SCIENCE

The monsters' digestive tracts were also filled with ash, preserving their original shape.

In addition, paleontologists also found small structures like lamps attached to the animal's shell by a strip of fossilized flesh.

Using CT scanning technology and computer models of virtual X-ray slices, researchers described in the journal Science some previously unknown details about this bizarre group of creatures.

"These findings are expected to lead to important discoveries about the evolution of life on our planet," said co-author Professor Abderrazak El Albani, a geologist at the University of Poitiers (France).

The Cambrian Period (about 541-485 million years ago) was a period of biological explosion on Earth, marked by the sudden increase in diversity and complexity of initially simple multicellular species in a short period of time.

They were completely alien monsters compared to modern creatures, most of which have lost their direct descendants due to catastrophic mass extinctions, yet still play a fundamental role in the survival of the planet today.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/tuyet-tich-510-trieu-nam-quai-vat-cambri-hien-hinh-nguyen-ven-196240629080323799.htm