Continental drift may have caused species ‘Big Bang’

Scientists at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics have a new understanding of what has been called “Darwin’s dilemma”, the sudden explosion of new life forms about 530 million years ago: tectonic shifts. The hypothesis, developed by researcher Ian Dalziel, suggests that the ancient continent Laurentia (present-day North America) remained attached to the fused supercontinent Gondwana longer than current reconstruction models suggest, leading to a rise in sea levels. The displaced water created new shallow-water environments that opened up niches for new species to fill. The shifting continents also likely caused an upwelling of deep ocean water that brought an influx of nutrients into shallow waters that allowed new life forms to flourish.

Science evolution