The Burgess Shale lagerstätte at the Walcott Quarry, Yoho National Park, Canada

Abstract

Abstract The Walcott Quarry was discovered in 1909 by the Smithsonian Institute's Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850–1927). The Cambrian Burgess Shale (505 Ma, Miaolingian) crops out in the quarry and the lagerstätte is the nexus of ongoing vigorous debate about fossil preservation (including taphonomy and diagenesis), taxonomy, classification, phylogeny, and the origin of phyla and baupläne. Smithsonian Institute's field crews collected from 1909–24, and the quarry was subsequently expanded by Harvard University (1930), the Canadian Geological Survey (1966–67), and the Royal Ontario Museum (1992–2000). Approximately 250 000 fossils, including soft-bodied forms, have been collected, making the Walcott Quarry with exposures of the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, a significant geoheritage site and an important representation of the Cambrian Explosion.