Cambrian explosion is the "sudden" appearance of a large variety of life forms in the relatively short period of 10 million years about 600 million years ago. Paleontologists have assumed that the puzzling event is the explosion itself. If we reformulate the question, the "explosion" might be explained as the predictable outcome of a Precambrian event (possibly the evolution of a cropping protist).
The diversity of species around the Cambrian explosion follows the familiar sigmoid curve. Seen this way, the "explosion" becomes just the log phase of the curve. This log phase filled up the oceans of the earth. Since then, evolution has produced endless variation on a limited set of basic designs.
Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould
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