2004 Articles

Three "First Places" for Ediacaran Period

Knoll, Andrew H.; Walter, Malcolm R.; Narbonne, Guy M.; Christie-Blick, Nicholas

Definition of a new geologic period for the last interval of the Proterozoic Eon, the Ediacaran, was recently ratified by the IUGS. The Ediacaran Period is the first Proterozoic period to be recognized on the basis of chronostratigraphic criteria, the first internationally ratified, chronostratigraphically defined period of any age to be introduced in more than 120 years, and the first to be defined by a "golden spike" in the Southern hemisphere.