Burgess shale
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The Burgess shale is a geological formation cropping out in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. This formation yield abundant, exceptionally preserved fossils of Middle Cambrian age, and thus constitutes a fundamental window in the early evolution of life.
The fossil lagerstätten of Burgess was discovered by geologist Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1909, who excavated the site since 1910. Its existance was made known that same year[1], and since then it became the object of numerous studies.
References and notes
- ↑ Walcott, C.D., 1910, Abrupt appearance of the Cambrian fauna on the North American continent. Cambrian Geology and Paleontology, II, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 57, 1-16