The lower Cambrian Cranbrook Lagerstätte of British Columbia

Abstract

Discovered over a century ago, the lower Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4) Cranbrook Lagerstätte of southeastern British Columbia's Eager Formation is one of the oldest Burgess Shale-type deposits in North America. This Konservat-Lagerstätte is rich in olenelloid trilobites, but also yields a very low-diversity soft-bodied fossil assemblage including Tuzoia and Anomalocaris , and a low-diversity ichnofauna. Its scientific study, however, remains limited. A 2015 field-based investigation by the Royal Ontario Museum has revealed new information about the site's biota, depositional environment and taphonomic conditions. Not only is the Cranbrook Lagerstätte significant for early Cambrian biostratigraphy and comparisons with other Burgess Shale-type deposits, it also reveals some of the little-known diversity of life in a distal outer shelf environment during the Cambrian period. Supplementary material: Three supplementary figures (historical map, Tuzoia outlines, Anomalocaris specimens), supplementary material and methods, and a supplementary data file (generic presence/absence matrix) are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6850810