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The period of Earth history from around 700 to 500 million years ago was dynamic. Temperatures rose and fell, glaciers formed and melted, oxygen levels increased and ocean chemistry changed. This dynamism was most certainly the spark that led to the rise and diversification of the Kingdom Animalia.
What was it about this changing environment that led to such innovation? Was it a single factor or a combination of many? This was a period when gigantic saline deposits were formed, but the precise dating of formation is still not at hand. Could it be that the removal of a significant fraction of NaCl and related salts could have been a major factor in the rapid appearance of metazoans globally - and could they have developed before, as predicted by molecular studies, but developed in the less saline and cold environments where the sea interfaced with the fresh waters flowing off a rising truly monumental mountain range?
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