Marble Canyon Canada Fossils

From marble canyon visitors are only a short drive from spectacular hiking trails in kootenay including the burgess shale fossils guided hike to stanley glacier floe lake and ball pass.

Marble canyon canada fossils.

The exact location of our fossil site near marble canyon has been kept secret so that parks canada can protect it. If you re driving along highway 93s and need to stretch your legs this is a great place to stop. Researchers have said the area and its fossils are furthering the understanding of animal life during the cambrian period when most major groups of animals appear on the fossil record. While our fossil site is of approximately of the same age as the rocks at marble canyon the fossils are from siliclastic shales a different type of rock.

The marble canyon fossil site home to more than a dozen new species was found by researchers in 2012 as they worked at the nearby stanley glacier. Robert gaines a marrella splendens. The new fossils were spotted in a mountain cliff in marble canyon about 26 miles 42 kilometers southeast of the original burgess shale site. South of marble canyon on highyway 93 is numa falls on the vermillion river.

The fossil of a four eyed arthropod called leanchoilid from canada s marble canyon is also found in cambrian age rock in china. Information panel about the geology of the area for visitors to the. Marble canyon is a canyon surrounding tokumm creek just above its confluence with the vermilion river at the north end of kootenay national park in the canadian rockies of british columbia canada. Marble canyon campground s close proximity to banff and yoho national parks makes day hikes on the iceline taylor lake bourgeau lake and twin lakes trails.

Splendid find image credit. Marble canyon is a beautiful place to visit in kootenay. Tokumm creek joins vermillion river through a magnificent gorge or box canyon so narrow that at several places the. The new fossils were spotted in a mountain cliff in marble canyon about 26 miles 42 kilometers southeast of the original burgess shale site.

There was a 1 5 km looped trail leading alongside the canyon and over a series of foot bridges with some inclines on the way up but still an easy trail. We re already planning to make a return visit once parks canada starts offering a guided hike to the marble canyon burgess shale fossil site note we have no idea when this will happen as a new trail has to be constructed to access the recently discovered site. I stopped here on september 24 2020.