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How old is the Cambrian System?

Abstract

IN a recent contribution in Nature, Mayne, Lambert and York1 have reported the results of age determinations on some British igneous rocks studied in the University of Oxford, and have concluded that the geological time-scale established in the works of Holmes (and of Marble and Belousov) is seriously in error. They claim that the age of 450 million years commonly assigned to Upper Cambrian strata is much too young, and that the base of the Cambrian System should be dated not at 500–520 m.y., but at about 750 m.y. This proposed drastic revision of the most significant date-line in geochronology conflicts somewhat with a large body of recent information to which, apparently, the authors have not had access.

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References

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DAVIDSON, C. How old is the Cambrian System?. Nature 183, 768–769 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/183768a0

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