The Ediacaran-Cambrian rise of siliceous sponges and development of modern oceanic ecosystems

The lack of unequivocal sponge fossils before the Cambrian despite their probable deep origin during the Cryogenian period has been a conundrum to geologists. Their impact on the dramatic evolution of ecosystems and the seawater silica cycle during the Ediacaran-Cambrian (E-C) transition is also speculative. In this study, abundant sponge spicules and spicule-like structures that probably represent original sponge fossils were recovered from...