Book 20, Question 124
Why Are Some of the Oldest Weird Animal Fossils Found High in the Rocky Mountains?
Some of the oldest, weirdest animal fossils are found high in the Rocky Mountains. The Burgess Shale, in Yoho National Park, holds fossils about 508 million years old. How did sea animals end up on a mountain?
More fun facts
- The Burgess Shale holds fossils from the middle of the Cambrian period, 505 to 510 million years ago.
- Most of its fossils are rarely preserved soft-bodied creatures, giving scientists the world's clearest record of Cambrian sea life.
- The fossils capture the end of the Cambrian Explosion, when most major animal groups appeared in the fossil record.
- American geologist Charles Doolittle Walcott found the original site on 30 August 1909.
- Walcott had first visited Yoho in 1907 to study trilobite fossils on Mount Stephen.
- Between 1909 and 1925, Walcott often returned with his family, and they dug what is now called the Walcott Quarry.
- The Burgess Shale is one reason the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks became a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Sources: thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
Questions kids ask
Who discovered the Burgess Shale?
American geologist Charles Doolittle Walcott found it in Yoho National Park in 1909.