The Ediacaran Period follows the Cryogenian Period in the wake of a snowball Earth glaciation and precedes the Cambrian Period with its rising tide of animal radiation. It is also the longest among all stratigraphically defined geological periods, lasting 94 million years (635–541 Ma). Hence, a good Ediacaran time scale is essential, not only to elucidate geological time, but also to provide a temporal context for extreme climatic events and transformative evolutionary transitions.