geologic travel (spring 2013)

EXPLORING: THE BURGESS SHALEGEOLOGIC TRAVELSp

ring

201

3

Freaky Fossils page 9

Charles Doolittle Walcott page 14

...and more!

STAFF

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:Dear Geologic Travel,

What was the method used to date the rocks at the Burgess Shale? If it was absolute, what isotopes were used? If it was relative what fossils were used?

Dear FFF, The method used to date the rocks at the Burgess Shale in Canada is relative age. The fossils found at the Burgess Shale are “some of the earliest multi-cellular organisms” that are a product of the Cambrian Explosion. This was a geologically short period, about 20 mil-lion years, of huge evolutionary development during the Cambrian time period. The preser-vation of some of the creatures were amaz-ing, so much that “of the creatures preserved not only the hard parts such as shells are vis-ible, but soft tissue like guts, gills and muscle are also found”.

-Fascinated Fossil Frank

-GT

Editor

Editor

Editor

Savannah Cassidy

Charles Nguyen

Robert Holland

ABOUTGeologic Travel is an award-winning, student-run semesterly magazine based in the College of Charleston. It features informative, fascinating and entertaining pieces of geological importance.

CONTACTGROUP 7 taught by Lauren M. Humphreys

Wednesdays 6 - 9 P.M. at the Rita Hollings Science Center Rm. 116

9 FASCINATING AND FREAKY FOSSILS

4 WHY THE BURGESS SHALE?

14 CHARLES DOOLITTLE WALCOTT

9 FASCINATING AND FREAKY FOSSILS

13 TRIPPY TRILOBITES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4

Geographic Travel: Burgess Shale

SPRING 2013

You may not have heard of it, but the underrated Burgess Shale is of huge sig-nificance in the world of geology and you need to check it out. The Burgess Shale is a fossil-rich area on the Fossil Ridge between Wapta Mountain and Mount Field, just a little north of the the town of Field, British Co-lumbia. This site is the best record we have of Cambrian animal fossils today, that gives us a look into what the world was like half a billion years ago. What makes it so unique is that a number of factors led to soft bodied animals being preserved. That’s right - not just the hard parts of their bodies (bones, teeth, etc) but the gills, muscles, digestive systems, and other soft parts of the organ-ism as well. With this information we have learned about how the and continued to learn about how life on earth has evolved

Cambrian Explosion

For the first 4 billion years of existing life on Earth, nothing more than bacteria, multi-celled algae and plankton was present. But then, between 570 and 530 million years ago, there was a burst of new life, in what we call the “Cambrian Explosion”. In just 10-20 million years (“a geologic blink of an eye”) there were a vast amount of new, complex organisms, and you guessed it- the best record of this is seen in the Burgess Shale. The shale contains the first fossil record of brachiopods, mollusks, trilobites, echinoderms, and other organisms.

Image Source: http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/631*300/evotourism-Burgess-Shale-Canada-631.jpg

Why the Burgess Shale?

and how it will continue to do so.This site is so significant that in 1981 desig-nated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which gives it protection now and for the future. This is not a site you should overlook in your geologic travels.

5Geographic Travel: Burgess Shale

SPRING 2013

image source: http://lostmotorcycles.blogspot.com/2011/02/cambrian-explosion-was-not-garden-of.html http://lostmotorcycles.blogspot.com/2011/02/cambrian-explo-sion-was-not-garden-of.html

6


SPRING 2013

Plate TectonicsIn the Cambrian era, the Burgess shale was submerged in the sea at the foot of an undersea cliff called the Cathedral Escarpment. This cliff was located on the edge of the Lau-rentia continental plate; fauna were swept off of the cliff, buried, and preserved as fossils at the base of the Cathe-dral Escarpment. During the Jurassic period, mountain-building processes uplifted the burgess shale from the base of the deep sea cliff and carried it east and to the north to its current location in Canada.

The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this true-color image of the park including the quarry on August 29, 2001.

As the name tells, the Burgess Shale fossils are preserved in the sedimentary rock shale. This is a mudstone that formed from deposits of mud and clay minerals. The different fossil layers represent different mud deposits.They are laid down in horizontal beds and rangefrom milimeters to centimeters in thickness.

Sedimentary Environment


SPRING 2013

Then:During the Cambrian era, the land was barren, uninhabited and subject to erosion. Located on the continental plate of Laurentia, on the equa-tor, many organisms lived in underwater mud banks called phyllopod beds. Water currents would periodically cause sediments to flow, lead-ing to mudslides. The mudslides rolled into the sea and buried marine organisms, resulting in the extraordinary amount of detailed Cambrian-aged fossils. There were no complex life forms, and land plants and animals were not existent yet. The sea level was rising during the Pre-Cam-brian through Cambrian age, which was a factor in the abundance of marine life. The climate during this time period was warmer and more tropical.

The Burgess Shale remains to be one of the most well-preserved look at what our world looked like many million years ago. Instead of the active marine life that one inhabited the Burgess Shale, a mountainous and rocky terrain filled with fossils from mudslides years ago are scattered amongst the land. The quarry sits in an environment of forests, meandering rivers and lakes. Compared to the Cambrian age, the water is shallower and land life is abundant. Now, the climate is colder than it was.

Now:

8


SPRING 2013

Upon celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Burgess Shale, the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation partnered with Big Rock Brewery, in Alberta, Canada and has created “Shale Ale”. Shale Ale’s label features Walcott and recreations of animals whose fossils he found.

-“This is the champagne of beers to celebrate the contribution geologists have made to science. Shale Ale kicks off our 1909-

2009 centennial celebrations, which are designed to engage the public in geology, climate change and the history of exploration

and discovery in the Rocky Mountains”

SHALE ALE: Combining beer and science, what more could you want?


SPRING 2013

Fascinating & Freaky Fossils

HallucigeniaThe Hallucigenia was a strange creature, whose fossil was found in the Burgess Shale. It was named by Simon Conway Mor-ris for its “bizzare and dreamlike quality”, like a hallucination. It was different from all the fossils found around it, and it confused researchers because they were unsure which side was the top and which side was the bottom, making the name even more fitting. On one side of their body were long tentacles, while on the other side there were 2 rows of spikes. Originally the Hal-lucigenia was thought to walk on the spikes while the tentacles on their back acted as some sort of feeding aid, but more recently better preserved fossils were found with claws on the tentacles that were used for walking instead of eating, while the spikes are now thought to have been some sort of defense mechanism used against preda-tors.

10


SPRING 2013

This fossil is an early ancestor of the crustacean and is represented well in the burgess shale with over 4,000 specimens found. They had hard shell backs with segmented bodies, underneath there were legs and gill-flaps that this arthopod used for breathing. Some scientists think

Canadaspis perfecta - Crustatuan

they also used the gill-flaps to propel them-selves through the water or under the soft sediments where these animals might have lived. These animals are an excellent ex-ample of fossils with present day ancestors like the crab and lobster.

Anomalocaris Canadensis


SPRING 2013

The Anomalocaris, which means abnormal shrimp, is the largest of the specimens found in the Burgess Shale and has no current ancestors that we know of. Different pieces of the organism were found independently and actually thought to be unique creatures until a complete Anomalocaris fossil was found intact. This predator is thought to have grown to 6 feet long, it had a large mouth on the under-side of its body with rows of teeth that could

have been used to crack the shells of the arthropods that it could have been hunting. Two stalks sat on the top of the creatures head with disk like eyes attached to the stalks, and on the bottom of the “face” were two shrimp-like feelers that the Anomalocaris used to grab its prey. These features com-bined with its comparatively large size makes it easy to believe that the Anomalocaris was a formidable predator during its time.

To actively promote physical well being, encourage team-work, stress the value of education and provide es-sential life skills to young people in our community through youth hockey and other activities.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS FOUNDATION

DONATE. VOLUNTEER.

HELP.

12


SPRING 2013

Burg

ess

Scal

e


SPRING 2013

In the image above, trilobites (1) live among many species that are not normally preserved. A typical Cambrian outcrop might produce only trilobites, brachiopods (2), mollusks (3), and crinoids (4). That is a tiny fraction of the full Cambrian biota, better represented by the roster of the Burgess Shale Cambrian Konservat-Lagerstatten. That community includes sponges Vauxia (5), Hazelia (6), and Eifellia (7); brachipods Nisusia (2); priapulid wormsOttoia (8); tri-lobites Olenoides (1); other arthropods such as Sidneyia (9), Leanchoilia (10), Marella (11), Canadaspis (12), Helmetia (13), Burgessia(14), Tegopelte (15), Naraoia (16), Waptia (17), Sanctacaris (18), and Odaraia (19); lobopods Hallucigenia (20) and Aysheaia (21); mollusks Scenella(3); echinoderms Echmatocrinus (4); and chordates Pikaia (22); among other oddi-ties, including Haplophrentis (23), Opabinia (24), Dinomischus (25),Wiwaxia (26), Amiskwia (27), and Anomalocaris (28). ©2002 by S.M. Gon III (composition & linework) & John Whor-rall (color rendering)

Trippy Trilobites

14


SPRING 2013

Charles Doolittle WalcottThe man who started it all.

Charleston Doolittle Walcott, a self-educated Palaeontologist, discovered the important fos-sil location, the Burgess Shale in 1909. Up un-til this discovery Walcott was most recognized for his work for the science of palaeontology and for heading the US Geological Survey, the

Image Source: http://siarchives.si.edu/oldsite/history/2002-10626.jpg

Smithsonian Institution and the National Academy of Sciences, three three of the most important scientific institutions in America.Walcotts interest was in the Cambrian layer. In 1906 he heard that Canadian Pacific Railway workers had collected “Stone bugs” and this infor-mation led him to the Canadian Rockies in 1906.


SPRING 2013

He returned in 1909 where he found the first fossils from the Burgess Shale, along a trail near Burgess Pass. For the next few months Walcott dedicated all his time and effort to this location. He named the shale after Mt. Burgess, located the source of the fossil and excavated the land. The fossils he found were revolutionary. Between 1910 and 1924 he continued to come to the site and collected over 65,000 specimins.

This medal is an award presented by the National Acadamy of science every five years, promoting research in Precambrian and Cambrian life and history.

Charles excavating the Burgess Shale with his daughter and son.

Image source: http://www.nasonline.org/assets/content-images/awards/charles-doolittle-walcott.gif

Take a thrilling and educational hike through the Burgess Shale guided by professional geoscientists, university gradu-ate students and professors. This Science-in-Action hike will “pleasantly change your perception of the planet earth we live on forever”.

And don’t forget about the kids!For 25 dollars your children and thier friends (age 13 or younger) can learn about this fascinating and engaging land-mark. The KIBS (Kids in Burgess Shale) hike is guided by a certified 10-year-old student and accompanied by an adult co-guide, a fully certified Burgess Shale Guide.

Register for a Guided Hike today at 1-800-343-3006or visit http://www.burgess-shale.bc.ca/guided-hikes

Cook, Lewis A. “The Evolutionary Significance of the Burgess Shale and Its Taphonomy.” N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <http://www.geo.wvu.edu/~lang/Geol796/ Burgess%2Shale%20Doc-LCook%202007.pdf>. Daley, Allison C. and Budd, Graham E. “New anomalocaridid appendages from the Burgess Shale, Canada.”Palaeontology; Jul2010, Vol. 53 Issue 4, p721-738, 18p, 7 Diagrams, 3 Charts, 1 Graph, 1 Map“Guided Hikes.” Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation. Burgess Shale Geoscience Founda tion, 2010. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://www.burgess-shale.bc.ca/guided-hikes>.Martyniuk , Matt. “Burgess Scale” Photo. Wikipedia.org 20 April 2008. <http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/File:Burgess_scale2.png>O’Brien, Lorna J. and Caron, Jean-Bernard. PLoS ONE; “A New Stalked Filter-Feeder from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, British Columbia, Canada. ” Jan2012, Vol. 7 Issue 1, p1-21, 21pScott, Erin, Lara Kirkner, Jane Shin, James Chan, and Veeral Desai. “The Burgess Shale.” Lo calities of the Cambrian. UCMP Berkeley, 5 May 2000. Web. 15 Feb. 2013. <http:// www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cambrian/burgess.html>.S.M. Gon III &John Whorrall “Trilobites” Photo. www.trilobites.info 2002 <http://www.trilo bites.info/triloclass.htm>Stolk, Sandra Pettersson, Holmer, Lars Erik, and Caron, Jean-Bernard. “First record of the brachiopod Lingulella waptaensis with pedicle from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale.” Acta Zoologica; Apr2010, Vol. 91 Issue 2, p150-162, 13p, 6 Diagrams“The Burgess Shale.” National Atlas.gov. National Atlas of the United States, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2013. <http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/geology/features/burgess. html>.“The Burgess Shale.” The Locality Today. Royal Ontario Museum, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/en/science/burgess-shale/01-today.php>.“The Cambrian Explosion.” PBS. PBS, 2001. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/ wgbh/evolution/library/03/4/l_034_02.html>.

Works Cited

geologic travel (spring 2013)

Documents