Vast new Cambrian explosion (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, February 13, 2014, 15:19 (4084 days ago)

A large group of new fossils with soft organs parts at a layer about 100,000 years earlier than the Burgess shale, 24 miles away in canada:-http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mother-lode-of-fossils-discovered-in-canada/-"About half of the 55 species discovered at Marble Canyon so far are also found at the original Burgess Shale site, the researchers report. Some of the original site's rare species are more abundant in the canyon, such as the polychaete worm Burgessochaeta. But "sessile" species are scarce or missing. These creatures, such as sponges and brachiopods, spend their lives attached to the rocks or the seafloor.
 
"Some species at Marble Canyon are also found in China's Chengjiang fossil beds, which are 10 million years older than the Burgess Shale. Until now, researchers thought these Cambrian animals went extinct by the time the Burgess Shale formed. Their discovery in Canada means that many Cambrian life forms were more widespread and longer-lived than previously thought, the researchers said. [Image Gallery: Fantastic Fossils]"