For the February 28 session of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology’s 2019
Speaker Series, Chad Morgan (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Calgary) will present “Highlights
from the Middle Cambrian Stephen Formation.”
The middle Cambrian Stephen Formation has a long and storied history in palaeontology. The formation includes the famous Burgess Shale lagerstätten—a deposit of exceptionally preserved specimens where soft body parts are fossilized. Found in Yoho National Park by Charles Walcott in the early 20th century, the Burgess Shale is one of the most internationally recognized rock units in western Canada.
Morgan will discuss the historical background and current cutting-edge science surrounding the Stephen Formation. Trilobite classification and biostratigraphic analyses have recently been reassessed with new fossil discoveries, including 505-million-year-old bacterial filaments, and unusual geometric trace fossils.
Additionally, Morgan will present a brief introduction to an unpublished, newly-discovered Burgess Shale fossil site in Yoho National Park that has yielded Margaretia dorus specimens.
This 505-million-year-old site, with its population of M. dorus specimens, may help to decipher the scientific classification of this problematic Burgess Shale fossil (whether it is more closely related to modern algae, or consists of tubes constructed by hemichordate worms).
The Royal Tyrrell Museum’s Speaker Series talks are free and open to the public. Presentations are given in the Museum auditorium every Thursday at 11:00 a.m. until April 25. Speaker Series talks are also available on the Museum’s YouTube channel at: youtube.com/c/RoyalTyrrellMuseumofPalaeontology.
