The Mesoproterozoic – no “boring billion”

Subject Areas : Mineralogy

Uwe-M. Troppenz ¹ , Sven Littkowski ²

1 - Naturforschende Gesellschaft Mecklenburg, Natureum, Ludwigslust, Germany
2 - Jamaica Focus Media Stream Corporation, Kingston, Jamaica

Received: 2019-06-10 Accepted : 2019-11-30 Published : 2019-10-01

Keywords: bustling billion, reconstruction, Montana Biota, Precambrian, multicellular life, Mesoproterozoic, boring billion,

Abstract :

The authors show that the Mesoproterozoic (1.6-1.0 bn year before present) was no “boring billion” but a “bustling billion” - not only with Stromatolites and their apex in the Calymmian and Ectasian but also with the presence of multicellular organisms. To make it visible a graphical reconstruction was created. For a long time, it was assumed that there existed no noteworthy biosphere on Earth before the Ediacaran (635-542 m year before present) – aside from bacteria which were responsible for the Stromatolites. In literature, they called this age the “boring billion”. This term is preserved until today, despite that scientific research came to another result. In the books “Wohin die Spuren führen” (Troppenz 2015) and The New Precambrian“ (Troppenz 2017) the actual status of knowledge was compiled, and term “boring billion” replaced by “bustling billion”. Term “Montana Biota” (first location of Horodyskia) was established for the definitely existing biosphere. For the first time, the authors make an attempt to reconstruct life in the period between 1.88 and 0.78 bn, and revive the “bustling billion”.

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