Walcott Quarry
Encyclopedia
The Walcott Quarry is the most famous quarry of the Burgess Shale
, bearing the Phyllopod bed
s. This lies at the base of the Walcott Quarry member, 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.
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After locating soft-bodied fossils in loose fragments of rock in 1907, the Phyllopod bed was located in 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.
Burgess Shale
The Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields, and the best of its kind. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils...
, bearing the Phyllopod bed
Phyllopod bed
The Phyllopod bed, designated by USNM locality number 35k, is the most famous fossil-bearing member of the Burgess shale fossil lagerstatte. It was quarried by Charles Walcott from 1911–1917, and was the source of 95% of the fossils he collected during this time;tens of thousands of...
s. This lies at the base of the Walcott Quarry member, 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 in 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.