The Sirius Passet fauna
A remote Greenland site preserves one of the earliest snapshots of a complete Cambrian ecosystem.
- When
- Known to
- ± 2 million years
- Era
- Cambrian, Paleozoic
Deposited about 518 million years ago in northern Greenland, Sirius Passet preserves soft-bodied animals older than the Chengjiang and Burgess assemblages, including early arthropods and enigmatic predators. Its fossils are flattened and mineralogically distinct from other sites, giving an independent view of early Cambrian life and helping distinguish genuine evolutionary patterns from quirks of preservation.