China discovered sponge fossils dating back about 540 million years

When conducting a field survey on the origin of paleontological fossils in Changde, Hunan, China recently, Hunan Provincial Geological Museum discovered and collected a large sponge fossil from the beginning Cambrian period, dating back 540 million years.

This is also the first complete sponge fossil this museum has collected since 1958.

Sponge fossils are about 540 million years old. (Photo: Xinhua News Agency).

Paleontology expert at Hunan Geological Museum Dong Quang Huy said that technical staff collected 15 fossil samples in this survey. Among them, large sponge fossils from the early Cambrian period are the most completely preserved. Based on the stratigraphic layer where the fossil was created, the sponge fossil discovered this time is about 540 million years old , about 20 million years earlier than the Cambrian period - the period of the explosion of life.

Sponges appeared in the earth's oceans 600 million years ago, clinging to sediments on the sea floor and getting food from seawater flowing through their bodies. This is the most primitive animal that can carry out biological mineralization, and is also the first animal on earth to participate in the cycling process of the element silicon.

According to a researcher at the Department of Geology, Northwestern University, Han Kien, after preliminary identification, this is a fossil of the sponge family , and is also one of the representative fossils of the animal population of Chengjiang. , Yunnan (518 million years ago).

Mr. Dong Quang Huy assessed that this discovery showed that the ocean at that time had a high level of primary reproduction, and an abundance of plankton that could support the existence of large sponges. and it is possible that many other species of organisms exist. Further field investigations will likely substantiate these predictions.