Cambrian

The Cambrian period is part of the geologic system of classifying geologic formations.

The Cambrian period is the first period of the Paleozoic era, and is divided into Early, Middle, and Furongian epochs. The Cambrian is preceded by the Precambrian era and followed by the Ordovician era.

The Cambrian was named by the geologist Adam Sedgwick for Cambria, Latin for Wales, which has large areas of rock originating in, and characteristic of, the period.

Under the uniformitarian dates assigned by secular geologists, it represents approximately the period of Earth's history from about 542 million years ago to 488 million years ago. Young Earth creationists reject the uniformitarian assumptions behind the dates derived by secular geologists, so they reject these dates (see geologic system).

Evolutionists believe that the Cambrian Radiation gave rise to almost all living phyla, but often in extinct forms with small resemblance to typical living species. Common Cambrian fossils are of trilobites, and inarticulate brachiopods, corals and primitive echinoderms. They also include what are considered to be the first vertebrates, "primitive" jawless fish.

Fossil remains other than shells or carapaces are rare, leading evolutionists to conclude that many of the organisms of the Cambrian were soft-bodied invertebrates. One notable site for soft-bodied Cambrian invertebrate remains is the Burgess Shale of British Columbia.

Young earth creationist scientists view

Young earth creationist scientists believe that the evolutionary geological timescale is in error. These scientists believe that the earth is young and has multiple lines of evidence from the field of geology showing that the earth is young. Also, young earth creationist scientists assert that there is an abundance of scientific arguments in addition to geology showing the earth and universe are both approximately 6,000 years in age. In addition, young earth creationist scientists have a number of arguments against the position of an extremely old age for the earth and the universe. Flood geologists also point out that catastrophism is increasingly being accepted in the field of geology. In addition, creationists also assert that old earth uniformitarian geology has numerous anomalies. For example, creationists cite the work of William R. Corliss who catalogued numerous anomalies in the old earth uniformatarian geology paradigm. Corliss wrote regarding paraconformities the following:

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"Potentially more important to geological thinking are those unconformities that signal large chunks of geological history are missing, even though the strata on either side of the unconformity are perfectly parallel and show no evidence of erosion. Did millions of years fly by with no discernible effect? A possible though controversial inference is that our geological clocks and stratigraphic concepts need working on." William R. Corliss, Unknown Earth (Glen Arm, Maryland: The Sourcebook Project, 1980), p. 219.

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The science journal New Scientist wrote regarding Corliss's work the following: "All I can say to Corliss is carry on cataloging." Young earth creationist scientists assert that paraconformaties pose a serious challenge to the old earth uniformitarian geology paradigm.