Precambrian Fossil

We left it far too late to go to The Outwoods, more my fault because I tarried about taking a shower. By the time we reached the cafe the ovens had been switched off and I had to make with a gluten free muffin which was getting stale. At least Len was able to buy a super duper sausage roll. No sausage for Basil.

It was dark too soon, so I couldn't take a photo in the woodland. Instead, I went to look at these educational panels on the wall that show the significance of the Charnia fossil first discovered in Bradgate Park in the 1950s. It belongs to the earliest known fauna (Edicarian) and is a eumetazoan, ie, an animal, not a plant, even though it appears to have a leaf like form. They looked very similar to modern day sea pens but are probably not closely related.

It's thought that the environment in which they grew would have been muddy turbidites derived from mud flows at a continental shelf but some experts believe they grew nearer to the shore. At any rate, at the time they were living, the atmosphere contained only 40% of the oxygen it contains now. Academic article. 

Similar specimens have been found in the Ediacara formation in Australia, in Newfoundland, and in Russia. It's now extinct. Several specimens have been discovered in Charnwood Forest since the first one. I must keep my eyes open.