PI will investigate the early history of the Metazoa by obtaining new field and laboratory data which may be used to construct accurate models of some key taxa. The field work proposed would be carried out in the Soviet Union in 1989 and in South Australia in 1990; the laboratory studies will include methods that will yield information about the nature of early mineral skeletons; and the modeling will be largely done using 2D and 3D computer-aided-design (CAD) software and finite element analysis (FEA). Both the late Precambrian soft-bodied metazoans (Ediacara Fauna) and early Cambrian calcareous and phosphatic microfossils will be studied as part of this project.
