Transgression-regression cycles drive correlations in Ediacaran-Cambrian rock and fossil records

Strata of the Ediacaran Period (635-538.8 Ma) yield the oldest known fossils of complex, macroscopic organisms in the geologic record. These “Ediacaran-type” macrofossils (known as the Ediacaran biota) first appear in mid-Ediacaran strata, experience an apparent decline through the terminal Ediacaran, and directly precede the Cambrian (538.8-485.4 Ma) radiation of animals. Existing hypotheses for the origin and demise of the Ediacaran biota include: changing oceanic redox states, biotic replacement by succeeding Cambrian-type fauna, and mass extinction driven by environmental change. Few studies frame trends in Ediacaran and Cambrian macroevolution from the perspective of the sedimentary rock record, despite well-documented Phanerozoic covariation of macroevolutionary patterns and sedimentary rock quantity. Here we present a quantitative analysis of North American Ediacaran–Cambrian rock and fossil records from Macrostrat and the Paleobiology Database. Marine sedimentary rock quantity i...