Looking up at Entrance to Marble Canyon - panoramio

Marble Canyon is a canyon surrounding Tokumm Creek just above its confluence with the Vermilion River, at the north end of

Kootenay National Park Kootenay National Park is a national park of Canada located in southeastern British Columbia. The park consists of of the Canadian Rockies, including parts of the Kootenay and Park mountain ranges, the Kootenay River and the entirety of the V ...

in the Canadian Rockies of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. South of Marble Canyon on Highway 93 is

Numa Falls Numa Falls is a waterfall of the Vermilion River located in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, Canada. It is accessible via a short drive off the Banff–Windermere Highway 93 that connects Banff National Park and Radium Hot Springs ...

on the Vermillion River. As described by ''

Canadian Alpine Journal The ''Canadian Alpine Journal'' is the yearly magazine of the Alpine Club of Canada. It serves as a worldwide journal of record for achievements in climbing, mountaineering, ski mountaineering, and exploration of mountains. The magazine is head ...

'' in 1913, " okumm Creekjoins Vermillion River through a magnificent gorge, or box canyon, so narrow that at several places the fissure, for it seems little more than a crack in the rock strata, is bridged by great boulders that have become wedged across it. It was a feature well worth seeing."

Cambrian Lagerstatte

A major new find was announced in early 2014 of fossilized Cambrian soft-bodied organisms in or near Marble Canyon that rival or even surpass the nearby

Burgess Shale The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fo ...

fossil site in size and preservation. The report said that 22% of the observed species found in the initial excavation were new to science. Additionally, several species previously known only from Chinese Lagerstätten, created millions of years earlier, were also found at the site. The exact location of the site was kept confidential to avoid damage to the site.

Species discoveries

Based on Caron ''et al.'' (2014) unless otherwise noted. Fossils first described from Marble Canyon are written as bold. * '' Cambroraster falcatus'' * '' Titanokorys gainesi'' * ''

Hurdia ''Hurdia'' is an extinct genus of hurdiid radiodont that lived 505 million years ago during the Cambrian Period. As a radiodont like ''Peytoia'' and ''Anomalocaris'', it is part of the ancestral lineage that led to euarthropods. Description ' ...

'' * '' Tokummia katalepsis'' * ''

Branchiocaris ''Branchiocaris'' is an extinct genus of Cambrian bivalved arthropod. The type and best known species, ''Branchiocaris pretiosa,'' was described from the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada, in 1929, originally placed in '' Protocaris'', a ...

'' sp. * '' Perspicaris'' * '' Fibulacaris nereidis'' * '' Pakucaris apatis'' * '' Balhuticaris voltae'' * '' Tuzoia cf. burgessensis'' * '' Surusicaris elegans'' * '' Yawunik kootenayi'' * '' Alalcomenaeus'' sp. * '' Mollisonia plenovenatrix'' (=''M. symmetrica'' in Caron ''et al.'' 2014) * '' Sidneyia inexpectans'' * '' Liangshanella cf. burgessensis'' * '' Naraoia compacta'' * ''

Naraoia ''Naraoia'' is a genus of small to average size (about 2-4½ cm long) marine arthropods within the family Naraoiidae, that lived from the early Cambrian to the late Silurian period. The species are characterized by a large alimentary system and ...

'' (''

Misszhouia ''Misszhouia'' is a genus of small to average sized (up to long) marine arthropods within the Naraoiidae family, that lived during the early Cambrian period. The only species presently known is ''Misszhouia longicaudata'' (the genus is mono ...

'') ''canadensis'' (=''M. cf. longicaudata'' in Caron ''et al.'' 2014) * '' Elrathina cf. marginalis'' * '' Bathyuriscus'' sp. * '' Kootenia cf. burgessensis'' * ''

Zacanthoides ''Zacanthoides'' is an extinct Cambrian genus of corynexochida, corynexochid trilobite. It was a nektobenthic predatory carnivore. Its remains have been found in Canada (British Columbia, especially in the Burgess Shale, and Newfoundland and Labr ...

'' sp. * ''

Ehmaniella ''Ehmaniella'' is a genus of trilobite known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. 392 specimens of ''Ehmaniella'' are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.74% of the community. Ehmaniella's major characteristics are a ...

'' * '' Itagnostus interstrictus'' * '' Ptychagnostus cf. praecurrens'' * '' Peronopsis'' * '' Marrella splendens'' * '' Primicaris cf. larvaformis'' * '' Molaria spinifera'' * '' Selkirkia'' tubes * '' Metaspriggina walcotti'' * ''

Banffia ''Banffia'' is a genus of animals described from Middle Cambrian fossils. The genus commemorates Banff, Alberta, near where the first fossil specimens were discovered. Its placement in higher taxa is controversial. It is considered to be a memb ...

'' * '' Oesia disjuncta'' ('' Margaretia dorus'') * '' Kootenayscolex barbarensis'' (='' Burgessochaeta cf. setigera'' in Caron ''et al.'' 2014) * '' Prototreta'' n. sp. aff. ''P. interrupta'' * '' Eoobolus'' sp. * '' Linnarssonia'' sp. * '' Mellopegma'' sp. aff. ''M. georginense'' * ''Haplophrentis cf. carinatus''

References

Canyons and gorges of British Columbia Canadian Rockies East Kootenay Kootenay National Park {{BritishColumbia-geo-stub