Burgess Shale
Cambrian fossil site
The Burgess Shale is a fossil deposit in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, renowned for its exceptionally preserved soft-bodied organisms from the Cambrian period, roughly 500 million years ago.
The site provides crucial evidence of early animal life and the rapid diversification known as the Cambrian explosion: The Burgess Shale fossils revolutionized our understanding of evolutionary history.
paleontology
Federal museum complex, Washington
- paleobiologyStudy of ancient organisms
- cladisticsClassification by common descent
- scientific controversyDisagreement among researchers over findings
organisms
Extinct segmented marine arthropod
- spongeAbsorbent cleaning material
- polychaeteSegmented marine annelid
- arthropodJointed-limb invertebrate phylum
- brachiopodHinged-shell marine invertebrate
geology
Compacted clay and silt rock
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- sedimentationParticles settling in liquid
- British ColumbiaCanada's western coastal province
- Rocky MountainsWestern North American cordillera
Cambrian explosion
Sudden appearance of complex life
- trilobitesExtinct marine arthropods
Smithsonian Institution
Federal museum complex, Washington
- paleobiologyStudy of ancient organisms
- cladisticsClassification by common descent
- scientific controversyDisagreement among researchers over findings
trilobite
Extinct segmented marine arthropod
- spongeAbsorbent cleaning material
- polychaeteSegmented marine annelid
- arthropodJointed-limb invertebrate phylum
mudstone
Compacted clay and silt rock
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- sedimentationParticles settling in liquid
- British ColumbiaCanada's western coastal province
Rocky Mountains · Canadian Rockies · outcrop · sedimentary layers
- fossilsdinosaur bones, ammonite, amber, ammonites, fossils
- paleontologydinosaurs, fossil, paleontology, fossil record, dinosaur bones
- Canadian geologyCanadian Shield, Rocky Mountains, Rockies, Appalachians, Sudbury Basin
- fossil sourcestar pits, amber, limestone, sandstone, coal beds
- Paleozoic eraCambrian period, Carboniferous period, trilobites, brachiopods, ancient oceans
- fossil sitesdig site, excavation, quarry, dig, dig sites