The Walcott Quarry is the most famous quarry of the Middle Cambrian

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 foss ...

, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, bearing the

Phyllopod bed The Phyllopod bed, designated by USNM locality number 35k, is the most famous fossil-bearing member of the Burgess Shale fossil ''Lagerstätte''. It was quarried by Charles Walcott from 1911–1917 (and later named Walcott Quarry), and was t ...

s. This lies at the base of the Walcott Quarry member, on a ridge between

Wapta Mountain Wapta Mountain is a mountain located in the Canadian Rockies between Emerald Lake and Yoho Valley in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Canada. It stands just north of the ridge containing the Burgess Shale fossil beds. Along with The Vice Pres ...

and Mount Field, and three other quarries – the Raymond, UE and EZ – lie above it. The quarry's proximity to the Cathedral escarpment led to the preservation of spectacular fossils.

History

After locating soft-bodied fossils in loose fragments of rock in 1907, the Phyllopod bed was located as a source for the fragments' origins by the Walcotts in 1910. The Walcott quarry was opened the subsequent year, and extensive quarrying was performed in field seasons until 1913, and Walcott considered the ton of shale he collected in his next visit, in 1917, to have practically exhausted the productive potential of the bed.

References

{{coord, 51.4388, -116.4714, type:landmark_region:CA-BC, display=title Burgess Shale Quarries in Canada Paleontology in Canada Geology of British Columbia