Cambrian Lagerstätten

Abstract

This page lists some of the better known Cambrian lagerstätten, and supplies links to further reading.

Keywords: Cambrian, Cambrian biota, Cambrian fossils, fossil record, lagerstätten

‘Orsten’ Beds

‘Orsten’ is a special type of anthraconitic, organic-rich, concretionary limestone which is intercalated in the Upper Cambrian Alum Shale of southern Sweden. In most localities it contains abundant megafossils, mostly trilobites. (For further information, see Walossek & Müller 1997; Maas & Waloszek 2001.)

(Read more 1, 2, 3 .)

Wheeler Shale

University of California, Berkeley

"The slopes of Swasey Peak in the House Range ... are composed of a rock layer known as the Wheeler Shale, with the overlying Marjum Formation forming the top of the peak. The Wheeler Shale and Marjum Formation, strata of Middle Cambrian age, are exposed throughout the House Range and nearby mountain ranges west of the town of Delta, Utah. ... Much of the Wheeler Shale is quite unfossiliferous, but certain layers contain abundant trilobites and other shelly fossils. The Wheeler Shale and Marjum Formation also contain a diverse biota of soft-bodied fossils, including many of the same taxa found in the more famous Burgess Shale" (University of California, Berkeley, web page).

Burgess Shale

Carleton Museum site
International Subcommission on Cambrian Stratigraphy
Peabody Museum, Yale (click lagerstätten, then Burgess Shale)
Royal Tyrrell Museum
University of Calgary site
Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation

Replaying Gould: A critical review of some of the arguments presented in his book Wonderful Life.

"Geologically, the most significant aspect of the Burgess Shale in its location next to what was the western edge of the continental platform 505 million years ago. The sediments, with their enclosed animal and algal remains, which now constitute the Burgess Shale, were deposited on the sea floor directly in front of this continental edge, now called the Cathedral Escarpment. East of the Escarpment, the shallow water Cathedral platform extended at least 50 km to the western shoreline of the continent.

"The sedimentary rocks of this Middle Cambrian coastline have been allocated to three facies groups: Inner Detrital, Middle Carbonate and Outer Detrital. Recently, the Burgess Shale has been recognized as belonging to the Outer Detrital Belt, in the Chancellor Group. Moreover, it is distinct from the Inner Detrital Belt Stephen Formation on top of the Cathedral platform, within which it was previously included. Following this, the Burgess Shale was, for the first time, formally described and defined as a geological formation, and subdivided into ten discrete members, each with its type section (Fletcher & Collins, 1998).

"The Cathedral Escarpment, originally described by Walcott as a fault surface, then by Aitken and Fritz as the front of a submarine cliff, has recently been reinterpreted by Stewart as the headwall of a major gravity slide. McIlreath mapped the Escarpment 20 km to the southeast as far as Curtis Peak, whereas Stewart has traced it another 40 km southeast to Monarch Cirque and above Natalko Lake in Kootenay National Park" (Collins: Geology and Biology of the Burgess Shale).

Chengjiang

Emu Bay Shale (Kangaroo Island)

Page prepared by Chris Nedin

Sirius Passet

<Introduction>

References

Fletcher & Collins, 1998

Maas, Andreas; Waloszek, Dieter 2001: Cambrian Derivatives of the Early Arthropod Stem Lineage, Pentastomids, Tardigrades and Lobopodians - An 'Orsten' Perspective. Zoologischer Anzeiger 240: 451-459.

Walossek, D.; Müller, K.J. 1997: Cambrian ‘Orsten’-Type Arthropods and the Phylogeny of Crustacea. In Fortey, R.A.; Thomas, R.H. (eds.) 1997: Arthropod Relationships. Systematics Association Special Volume Series 55, pp. 139-153.

Peripatus Home Page

Paleontology Page >> Cambrian Period >> Cambrian Lagerstätten

Contact me.