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26 April 2018 Photo Supplied
Pretzel-formed fossil of great evolutionary interest
Slab with holotype of Parapsammichnites pretzelifornic from the Urusis Formation, Namibia. Scale bar is 1cm.Picture was taken from Buatois et al., 2018.
The acclaimed scientific journal, Nature, recently published an article about a trace fossil in approximately 543-million-year-old rocks, which elucidates the evolution of the first animals that appeared on Earth and lived in the sea.  

Affiliated Professor in the Department of Geology at the University of the Free State (UFS) Prof Gerard Germs formed part of a team that conducted research with the aim of understanding how the evolution of the first multicellular animals came about and how the Cambrian explosion took place. Prof Germs is of great value to the team for his extended field geological knowledge.

An article which he co-authored was published in the Nature Scientific Reports. The title of the article is: “Sediment disturbance by Ediacaran bulldozers and the roots of the Cambrian explosion”. The international group of writers included authors from Canada, Spain and South Africa. 

Occurrence of the Cambrian explosion
Prof Germs explains the Cambrian explosion: “During the long (4.5-billion-year) history of the Earth, the first life originated and subsequently evolution of plants and animals took place from one-cellular organisms to multicellular vertebrate animals and seed plants. Approximately 573 million years ago the first multicellular animals appeared on the scene. Sometime afterwards, approximately 540 million years ago, a kind of explosion in the origin of many new animal species occurred. This explosion is known as the Cambrian explosion.”

The team studied Earth sediments which are somewhat older than the Cambrian explosion. Such sediments are approximately 573 to 541 million years old and form part of the Ediacaran (late Neoproterozoic) period.

“My discoveries of the past, of among others, the oldest animal with a carbonate skeleton (Cloudina) and of complex horizontal Cambrian-type “worm” tracks (treptichnids) in Ediacaran sediments of Namibia have demonstrated that the Cambrian explosion occurred more gradually than previously thought. This has recently been confirmed in the article that was published in the Nature Scientific Reports.”

Pretzeliformis bulldoze to search for food
According to the article there is evidence that   during the Ediacaran period   worm-like animals such as the Parasammichnites pretzeliformis were already so far developed that they, due to coelom development and size increase, for the first time in the history of the Earth, were able to disturb and bulldoze sediments.  In this way they were able to find a new food source in sea sediments. Bulldozing animals were previously thought to have originated only during and after the Cambrian explosion and not during the older Ediacaran.

“Another major aim of my cooperative research is to improve our knowledge of the geology of the Ediacaran to early Cambrian of South Africa and Namibia. We also intend to establish how the assembly of the supercontinent Gondwana took place. This improved knowledge can be of great future economic interest since large oil, gas and limestone sources occur in Ediacaran-age sediments outside South Africa”.

News Archive

SASOL TRAC laboratory launched at UFS Qwaqwa Campus
2006-05-08

Some of the guests attending the launch of the Sasol TRAC Laboratory at the University of the Free State's (UFS) Qwaqwa Campus were from the left Prof Peter Mbati (Principal of the Qwaqwa Campus), Mrs Zimbini Zwane ( Communications Manager of Sasol Infrachem), Prof Gerhardt  de Klerk (Dean : UFS Faculty of the Humanities), Prof Fred Hugo
 Director of TRAC SA) and Prof Jack van der Linde (Director of RIEP at the UFS).

SASOL TRAC laboratory launched at UFS Qwaqwa Campus

The Research Institute for Education Planning (RIEP) of the University of the Free State (UFS) today unveiled the Sasol TRAC Laboratory at its Qwaqwa campus.

The laboratory will be used to help grade 10, 11 and 12 learners and educators from the Qwaqwa region to conduct the experiments from the physical sciences outcome-based curriculum.

“The Sasol TRAC Laboratory introduces learners not only to the latest technology used by engineers and other scientists in practice but also to stimulate the learner’s interest in the field of science in such a way that more of them will enter into science related careers,” says Mr Cobus van Breda, Co-ordinator of the TRAC Free State Regional Centre.

According to Mr van Breda the newly established Sasol TRAC Laboratory will enable RIEP to train learners and their educators in Physical Sciences.  The laboratory will consist of six work stations equipped with computers and electronic sensors.

“Learners from the Qwaqwa region will visit the Sasol TRAC Laboratory on regular basis to conduct experiments based on the curriculum.  Data will be collected with electronic apparatus and presented as graphs on the computer so that results can be analysed and interpreted,” says Mr van Breda.

“There is a serious shortage of suitable qualified teachers in maths and science in the Qwaqwa region.  Many schools in the region are not yet part of the RIEP project and are in dire need of assistance.  A large number of these schools are in remote areas not reached regularly by intervention programmes,” says Prof Peter Mbati, Principal of the UFS Qwaqwa Campus.

“The establishment of the Sasol TRAC Laboratory at the Qwaqwa Campus provides us the opportunity to engage with our community and assist in the development and training of these vital education subjects.  We are pleased that Sasol agreed to fund the project,” says Prof Mbati.

Students from the Qwaqwa Campus will also benefit from the TRAC programme.   “Some promising students will also undergo further training and become assistants for the TRAC programme,” says Prof Mbati. 

“Nurturing science and mathematical skills is of great importance in growing our national economy. Annually, Sasol invests more than R50 million in supporting mathematical and science education in South Africa. Our primary aim is to increase the number of learners gaining access to tertiary education in the science fields. Therefore, our Corporate Social Investment (CSI) education interventions at secondary school level focus on educator development and direct learner interventions such as the Sasol TRAC Laboratory,” explains Ms Pamilla Mudhray, CSI and SHARP manager at Sasol.

According to Ms Mudhray the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement for physical sciences in the further education and training (FET) phase from 2006, under resourced schools will need greater access to the tools and equipment necessary to teach the syllabus and fulfil the ideals of the curriculum.

TRAC South Africa is a national non-profit programme focused on supporting and expanding science, mathematics and technology education in secondary schools. The programme was first introduced to South Africa in 1994. In 2005, RIEP established the TRAC Free State regional centre on the UFS Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
5 May 2006

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