Rocky Mountains Archives - The Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation

A 506 million year old hemichordate worm with tentacles

Antoine Archambault — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 22:48:02 +0000

Gyaltsenglossus senis, is a newly described hemichordate from the Burgess Shale. It provides evidence on how the anatomies of the two main groups of hemichordates – enteropneusta and pterobranchia – are related. The enteropneusta and pterobranchia differ in body shape and in ecological function. However, DNA analysis of present day organisms suggests that they are […]

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A Mine in Yoho National Park?

Antoine Archambault — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 17:13:19 +0000

A mine. In a National Park. Inside a mountain. Not what you would expect but for over sixty years, zinc and lead where mined from within Mount Stephen and Mount Field in Yoho National Park. These mines were the only successful metal mines in the Canadian Rockies. Railway construction workers chanced upon lead-zinc ore in the […]

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The Geology of the Burgess Shale (Part 3): The Cathedral Escarpment

Antoine Archambault — Thu, 09 May 2019 21:28:03 +0000

A spectacular submarine cliff over 100 metres high – the Cathedral Escarpment- marked the front of the algal limestones of the Cathedral Formation. The Cathedral Escarpment was initially thought to be a product of prolific algal growth and sediment accumulation during a period of sea level rise. A re-interpretation suggested that the escarpment is the […]

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The Geology of the Burgess Shale (Part 2): What Rocks Tell Us About Life

Antoine Archambault — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 22:42:08 +0000

The picture above features fossil ridge, situated behind and to the right of the hikers; as well as, Mt Wapta, situated behind and slightly to the left of the hikers. The former is where the Walcott Quarry is located. Below we describe why fossil ridge and Mount Wapta have mudstone (shale) rocks lower down on the […]

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The Geology of the Burgess Shale (Part 1): The Gog Group

Antoine Archambault — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 01:59:21 +0000

The Gog Group underlies the Cambrian rocks where the Burgess Shale fossils are found. Those of you not wearing a bathing suit and a life preserver would be ill prepared if you somehow found yourself in Yoho National Park in the Cambrian. Beginning in the Early Cambrian (~541 million years ago), sea levels rose and […]

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Some of Earth’s first animals—including a mysterious, alien-looking spaceship—are spilling out of Canadian rocks

Antoine Archambault — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 23:33:13 +0000

Science magazine just published a great article about some of the newest Burgess Shale fossil finds in Kootenay National Park. In the above photo Jean-Bernard Caron shows off the “mothership,” an enigmatic Cambrian life form his team found this past summer. Click this link to go to the original article.

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World Heritage Status and the Protection of Burgess Shale Fossils

Antoine Archambault — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 23:43:59 +0000

In 1984, UNESCO included the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks (CRMPs) on its World Heritage List. This property consists of the following national parks: Yoho, Banff, Kootenay, and Jasper. As well as, the following provincial parks Mt. Robson, Hamber, and Mt. Assiniboine. The site encompasses a contiguous area that is 2,299,104 hectares in size. For a property […]

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The History of Yoho National Park and the Discovery of the Burgess Shale

Antoine Archambault — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 00:03:49 +0000

Yoho National Park was established In 1886, as Canada’s second national park. This occurred only twenty eight years after the first European, James Hector, laid eyes on the area. The tiny Yoho National Park encompassed only 26 square kilometres at the base of Mount Stephen. The park was subsequently expanded four more times before the […]

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Remembering Murray Coppold

Antoine Archambault — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 02:22:58 +0000

The passing of Murray Coppold was a shock to his friends and colleagues at the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation. He was a long-time contributor to the Foundation in various activities such as editor of our newsletter Marrella and the author of “A Geoscience Guide to the Burgess Shale”. I knew him best from our collaboration, […]

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Oldest fossilized embryos and oldest evidence of brood care

Antoine Archambault — Sat, 14 May 2016 16:25:57 +0000

Paleontologists Jean-Bernard Caron and Jean Vannier have recently examined specimens of Wapta fieldensis and revealed a parent carrying eggs with preserved embryos. Read the media release by Earth Magazine here.

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