This event may have been caused by a (*) "methane burp" from the "clathrate gun" or by a combination of the rise of Hox genes and the reduction of aquatic bacteria, which led to higher oxygen levels in Earth's atmosphere.
The book Wonderful Life states that scientists will often describe Charles Doolittle as "that doofus who invented the non-existent Lipalian Interval to explain" this event. In a 1948 paper, Preston Cloud characterized a certain process as "eruptive" to explain this event. Many so-called "artifact" theories hold that this event only seemed to occur due to the prevalence of soft shells prior to it. This event may have been caused by a (*) "methane burp" from the "clathrate gun" or by a combination of the rise of Hox genes and the reduction of aquatic bacteria, which led to higher oxygen levels in Earth's atmosphere. For 10 points, name this event that took place roughly 540 million years ago, which was marked by the rapid diversification of lifeforms on Earth, named for the first period of the Paleozoic Era.
The book Wonderful Life states that scientists will often describe Charles Doolittle as "that doofus who invented the non-existent Lipalian Interval to explain" this event.
Cambrian explosion [or Cambrian radiation]