History of Earth took place during the Carboniferous period (359–299 Ma) and resulted in the formation of the last supercontinent, Pangaea. By 180 Ma, Pangaea broke up into Laurasia and Gondwana. The rate of the evolution of life as recorded by fossils accelerated in the Cambrian period (542–488 Ma). The sudden emergence of many new species, phyla, and forms in this period is called the Cambrian Explosion. The biological fomenting in the Cambrian Explosion was unpreceded before and since that time. Whereas the Ediacaran life forms appear yet primitive and not easy to put in any modern group, at the end of the
PANGAEA (data library) PANGAEA (data library) PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science is a digital data library and a data publisher for earth system science. Data can be georeferenced in time (date/time or geological age) and space (latitude, longitude, depth/height). Scientific data are archived with related metainformation in a relational database (Sybase) through an editorial system. Data are in Open Access and are distributed through web services in standard formats on the Internet through various search engines and portals. Data set descriptions (metadata) are conform to the ISO 19115 standard and are served in various further formats (e.g. Directory Interchange