What is the Burgess Shale Formation?
Q: What is the Burgess Shale Formation?
A: The Burgess Shale Formation is a fossil field located in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. It is famous for its exceptional preservation of soft parts of fossils, and it dates back to ~505 million years ago (Middle Cambrian).
Q: Who discovered the Burgess Shale?
A: The Burgess Shale was discovered by palaeontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1909.
Q: How many specimens did Walcott collect from the quarry?
A: Walcott collected over 65,000 specimens from the quarry on Fossil Ridge.
Q: What led scientists to realise that Walcott had barely scratched the surface of information available in the Burgess Shale?
A: A first-hand reinvestigation of the fossils by Alberto Simonetta led scientists to recognise that Walcott had barely scratched the surface of information available in the Burgess Shale.
Q: Where does Royal Ontario Museum have one of largest collections of Burgess Shale material?
A: The Royal Ontario Museum has one of largest collections of Burgess Shale material with over 150,000 specimens.
Q: What are some examples of bizarre anatomical features found at this site?
A: Examples include Opabinia, with five eyes and a snout like a vacuum cleaner hose; Nectocaris, and Hallucigenia which was originally reconstructed upside down walking on its spines.
Q: When was it designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
A:The Burgess Shale was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980 and became part of Canada Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site in 1984.
