Phyllopod bed

The Phyllopod bed, designated by USNM locality number 35k, is the most famous fossil-bearing member of the Burgess shale fossil Lagerstätte. It was quarried by Charles Walcott from 1911–1917, and was the source of 95% of the fossils he collected during this time; tens of thousands of soft-bodied fossils representing over 150 genera have been recovered from the Phyllopod bed alone.

Stratigraphy and location

The phyllopod bed is a 2.31 m thick layer of the 7 m thick Greater Phyllopod Bed, found in the Walcott Quarry on Fossil ridge, between Mount Wapta and Mount Field, at an elevation of around 2,300 metres (7,500 ft), around 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of the railway town of Field, in the Canadian Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Canada.

Walcott divided the bed into twelve units based on the rock type and fossil content. Certain fossil beds provide reference levels and can be recognized by the superabundance of a particular type of fossil: for instance, the Great Marrella layer and Great Eldonia layer.