Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian period

Gordon D. Love (), Emmanuelle Grosjean, Charlotte Stalvies, David A. Fike, John P. Grotzinger, Alexander S. Bradley, Amy E. Kelly, Maya Bhatia, William Meredith, Colin E. Snape, Samuel A. Bowring, Daniel J. Condon and Roger E. Summons
Additional contact information
Gordon D. Love: University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA
Emmanuelle Grosjean: Geoscience Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
Charlotte Stalvies: School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
David A. Fike: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
John P. Grotzinger: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
Alexander S. Bradley: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 01239, USA
Amy E. Kelly: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 01239, USA
Maya Bhatia: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 01239, USA
William Meredith: School of Chemical, Environmental and Mining Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park
Colin E. Snape: School of Chemical, Environmental and Mining Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park
Samuel A. Bowring: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 01239, USA
Daniel J. Condon: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 01239, USA
Roger E. Summons: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 01239, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 457, issue 7230, 718-721

Abstract: The earliest metazoans Chemical fossils discovered in sedimentary rocks in Oman provide the earliest evidence for animal life so far discovered. The fossil steroids — 24-isopropylcholestanes characteristic of sponges of the Demospongiae class — date back 635 million years or more to around the time of the Marinoan glaciation, the last of the immense ice ages at the end of the Neoproterozoic. This suggests that the shallow waters in some late Cryogenian ocean basins contained dissolved oxygen in concentrations sufficient to support simple multicellular organisms at least 100 million years before the rapid diversification of bilaterians during the Cambrian explosion.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07673

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