埃迪卡拉纪-寒武纪转换时期动物的起源、演化和“寒武纪大爆发”一直是国际古生物学界研究的热点问题，其中寒武纪早期小壳化石群与埃迪卡拉纪化石群和寒武纪早期澄江化石库之间的内在关系是古生物学界研究的难题，其主要原因是寒武纪早期与小壳化石群伴生的宏体动、植物化石的缺乏。发现于峡东地区的寒武纪早期岩家河生物群填补了这一缺失环节，该生物群包含宏体动物、宏观藻类、小壳化石、球形化石(可能的胚胎化石)、微古植物和蓝菌类等化石，部分宏体化石显示了从埃迪卡拉纪向寒武纪过渡色彩。化石保存方式有碳质膜、黄铁矿化、磷酸盐化、硅化。因此对岩家河生物群生物多样性和埋藏学进行综合研究，将可提供纽芬兰世(梅树村期)碳酸盐台地—碳酸盐台地内部的局部凹陷盆地相的一个较完整的生物景观图，对探索“寒武纪大爆发主幕”前夕生物的辐射、演化模式及保存机制具有重要的科学意义。

The origin and evolution of animals and Cambrian Explosion from the Ediacaran to Cambrian transition interval are of hot research interest to paleontologists worldwide.However,the evolutionary relationship among small shelly fossils of early Cambrian,fossil community of late Precambrian,Chengjiang fossil lagerst?tte of early Cambrian are major challenges in the field of paleontology,which is largely due to the absence of macrofossils coexisting with the small shelly fossils in early Cambrian.The early Cambrian Yanjiahe biota bridges this gap in that this biota consists of macroscopic metazoans,macroalgae,small shelly fossils,spheroidal fossils(putative embryos),acritarchs and cyanobacteria. Some macrofossils exhibit characters of a transitional fauna from Ediacaran to Cambrian.These fossils show different preservation modes as diverse as organic carbonaceous film, phosphatization,pyrite,or siliceous remains.In this context,a systematic investigation into the biodiversity and taphonomy of the Yanjiahe biota can provide insights into the paleobiological community from shelf-sea carbonate platform facies to a local depression in the platform in the Meishucun Age,and can as well shed light on the biodiversification and evolutionary patterns during the onset of the Cambrian Explosion.