Ancient clays cemented soft-bodied Ediacaran fossils, rewriting early life history
New research using lithium isotopes shows the soft-bodied Ediacaran organisms were preserved in sandstone not because they were unusually tough, but because authigenic clays grew around buried remains, effectively cementing sand grains together. Detrital clays were already present, and seawater chemistry in the Ediaran oceans helped form clays that captured the outlines of delicate tissues. This finding shifts the story from biology to environment in explaining the rise of complex life before the Cambrian Explosion.