05-08-2025
Scientists Discover Rare Fossils from Earth's Earliest Ecosystems in Morocco
Rabat – A team of Moroccan and international scientists has uncovered rare fossils in the Anti-Atlas Mountains. The discovery could help solve one of the biggest mysteries in Earth's history: what happened during the transition from the Ediacaran period to the Cambrian explosion, over 540 million years ago.
The discovery was made in the Tabia Member of the Adoudou Formation, near Ez-Zaouia village in the western Anti-Atlas. The research, published in Precambrian Research, describes previously unknown trace fossils, soft-bodied organisms, and mat-related structures (MRS), preserved in ancient rocks from the time when the first complex life began to evolve.
This period, known as the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, marks the end of the Ediacaran biota (soft-bodied life forms that lived in microbial mats) and the rise of more active, complex animals that define modern ecosystems. But how exactly this shift happened has long been debated.
Researchers found fossilized signs of both life forms living at the same time, suggesting that this was not a sudden extinction but a gradual evolutionary change, where new animals began to replace the older ones.
Among the findings were trace fossils such as Treptichnus bifurcus, Bergaueria, Helminthopsis, and Archaeonassa, which are tracks and burrows left by early moving animals.
In addition, soft-bodied fossil discs like Aspidella and Nimbia, believed to be among the last representatives of the Ediacaran organisms, were also discovered.
Findings also include mat-related structures, including surface wrinkles and textures formed by microbial life.
These fossils show that different types of early life were sharing the same environments just before the Cambrian explosion.
'The Ediacaran–Cambrian transition has long been recognized as an important juncture in Earth's history. However, this boundary remains poorly understood in terms of the tempo and relationships among evolutionary, environmental, and ecological changes,' reads the research paper.
The Adoudou Formation is already known among geologists as a key site for studying changes in the Earth's chemical record during this period. However, until now, its fossil content was not well understood. This study puts the Anti-Atlas region on the map as a crucial location for studying early life on Earth. Tags: DiscoveryfossilMorocco
