Cambrian mudflats

[Halichoeres]

The Burgess Shale is obviously an amazing deposit that has taught us a ton about the history of life, but like any fossil bed it's limited by its setting. It's nice to have another point of comparison. Enter the Pika formation, which has a section that, according to this research, was a mudflat that sometimes dried out. An intermittent, shallow-water setting gives some idea of how widespread some of these Cambrian organisms might have been.

Some sample fossils:


Open access in Palaeontology: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pala.70001

[AllenLFazio]

The Burgess Shale is obviously an amazing deposit that has taught us a ton about the history of life, but like any fossil bed it's limited by its setting. It's nice to have another point of comparison. Enter the Pika formation, which has a section that, according to this research, was a mudflat that sometimes dried out. An intermittent, shallow-water setting gives some idea of how widespread some of these Cambrian organisms might have been.

Some sample fossils:


Open access in Palaeontology: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pala.70001 gunspin

The comparison between the Burgess Shale and the Pika is fascinating! Understand how Cambrian creatures thrived in different environments