Walcott Quarry

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EL

Talus material discarded during quarrying of the shale litters the side of Fossil Ridge. X marks the camp site used by field teams. Emerald Lake (EL) is visible in the background.

Part of a series on
The Burgess Shale
Preservation Biota History
Geology and localities Stephen Formation Cathedral Formation Walcott Quarry (containing the Phyllopod bed) Mount Stephen trilobite beds Odaray Mountain Stanley Glacier
Fossils Marrella Radiodonts Halwaxiids Opabiniids Odontogriphus
Key organisms Ediacara biota Kimberella Vernanimalcula Burgess-type Marrella Anomalocaridids Halwaxiids Opabinia Odontogriphus Small shelly fauna Helcionellids
Evolutionary concepts Cambrian explosion Trends Cambrian substrate revolution Themes Cladistics Convergent evolution Stem and crown groups
v t e

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

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.^[3] 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.^[3]

References