Marble Canyon (Canadian Rockies)

For other places with the same name, see Marble Canyon (disambiguation).

Marble Canyon
Marble Canyon
Marble Canyon
Geography
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Regional district	Kootenay Land District[1]
Coordinates	51°10′59″N 116°08′03″W [1]

Marble Canyon' surrounds 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.[1] South of the canyon on Highway 93 is Numa Falls on the Vermilion River.

As described by Canadian Alpine Journal in 1913, "[Tokumm Creek] joins Vermilion River through a magnificent gorge, or box canyon, so narrow that at several places the fissure, for it seems little more than a crack in the rock strata, is bridged by great boulders that have become wedged across it. It was a feature well worth seeing."[2]

Cambrian Lagerstatte

A major new find was announced in early 2014 of fossilized Cambrian soft-bodied organisms in or near Marble Canyon that rival or even surpass the nearby Burgess Shale fossil site in size and preservation. The report said that 22% of the observed species found in the initial excavation were new to science. Additionally, several species previously known only from Chinese Lagerstätten, created millions of years earlier, were also found at the site.[3] The exact location of the site was kept confidential to avoid damage to the site.[4]

Species discoveries

Cambroraster falcatus

Tokummia katalepsis

Fibulacaris nereidis

Balhuticaris voltae

Yawunik kootenayi

Metaspriggina walcotti

Based on Caron et al. (2014)[3] unless otherwise noted. Fossils first described from Marble Canyon are written as bold.

• Cambroraster falcatus[5]
• Titanokorys gainesi[6]
• Hurdia
• Tokummia katalepsis[7]
• Branchiocaris sp.
• Perspicaris
• Fibulacaris nereidis[8]
• Pakucaris apatis[9]
• Balhuticaris voltae[10]
• Tuzoia cf. burgessensis[11]
• Surusicaris elegans[12]
• Yawunik kootenayi[13] (178 specimens as 2020)[14]
• Alalcomenaeus sp.
• Mollisonia plenovenatrix[15] (=M. symmetrica in Caron et al. 2014)
• Sidneyia inexpectans (252 specimens as 2020)
• Liangshanella cf. burgessensis
• Naraoia compacta[16]
• Naraoia (Misszhouia) canadensis[16][17] (=M. cf. longicaudata in Caron et al. 2014)
• Elrathina cf. marginalis
• Bathyuriscus sp.
• Kootenia cf. burgessensis
• Zacanthoides sp.
• Ehmaniella
• Itagnostus interstrictus
• Ptychagnostus cf. praecurrens
• Peronopsis (2707 specimens as 2020)[14]
• Marrella splendens
• Primicaris cf. larvaformis (119 specimens as 2020)[14]
• Molaria spinifera
• Selkirkia tubes
• Metaspriggina walcotti[18] (235 specimens as 2020)[14]
• Banffia
• Oesia disjuncta (Margaretia dorus)[19] (3373 specimens as 2020)[14]
• Kootenayscolex barbarensis[20] (=Burgessochaeta cf. setigera in Caron et al. 2014) (833 specimens as 2020)[14]
• Ursactis comosa (>580 specimens as 2023)[21]
• Prototreta n. sp. aff. P. interrupta
• Eoobolus sp.
• Linnarssonia sp.
• Mellopegma sp. aff. M. georginense
• Haplophrentis cf. carinatus (3694 specimens as 2020)[14]

References

1. "Marble Canyon". BC Geographical Names. Retrieved 2024-12-17.
2. Canadian Alpine Journal, vol V, 1913, pp. 100–137
3. Caron, Jean-Bernard; Gaines, Robert R.; Aria, Cédric; Mángano, M. Gabriela; Streng, Michael (11 February 2014). "A new phyllopod bed-like assemblage from the Burgess Shale of the Canadian Rockies". Nature Communications. 5: ncomms4210. Bibcode:2014NatCo...5.3210C. doi:10.1038/ncomms4210. PMID 24513643.
4. "Mighty Burgess Shale fossil site discovered in Kootenay National Park". Royal Ontario Museum. February 11, 2014.
5. Moysiuk, J.; Caron, J.-B. (2019-08-14). "A new hurdiid radiodont from the Burgess Shale evinces the exploitation of Cambrian infaunal food sources". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 286 (1908): 20191079. doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.1079. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 6710600. PMID 31362637.
6. Caron, J.-B.; Moysiuk, J. (2021). "A giant nektobenthic radiodont from the Burgess Shale and the significance of hurdiid carapace diversity". Royal Society Open Science. 8 (9): 210664. Bibcode:2021RSOS....810664C. doi:10.1098/rsos.210664. ISSN 2054-5703. PMC 8424305. PMID 34527273.
7. Aria, Cédric; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2017). "Burgess Shale fossils illustrate the origin of the mandibulate body plan". Nature. 545 (7652): 89–92. Bibcode:2017Natur.545...89A. doi:10.1038/nature22080. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 28445464. S2CID 4454526.
8. Izquierdo-López, Alejandro; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2019). "A possible case of inverted lifestyle in a new bivalved arthropod from the Burgess Shale". Royal Society Open Science. 6 (11): 191350. Bibcode:2019RSOS....691350I. doi:10.1098/rsos.191350. PMC 6894550. PMID 31827867.
9. Izquierdo‐López, Alejandro; Caron, Jean‐Bernard (2021). Zhang, Xi‐Guang (ed.). "A Burgess Shale mandibulate arthropod with a pygidium: a case of convergent evolution". Papers in Palaeontology. 7 (4): 1877–1894. doi:10.1002/spp2.1366. ISSN 2056-2799. S2CID 236284813.
10. Izquierdo-López, Alejandro; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2022-07-15). "Extreme multisegmentation in a giant bivalved arthropod from the Cambrian Burgess Shale". iScience. 25 (7): 104675. Bibcode:2022iSci...25j4675I. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104675. ISSN 2589-0042. PMC 9283658. PMID 35845166.
11. Izquierdo-López, Alejandro; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2022). "The problematic Cambrian arthropod Tuzoia and the origin of mandibulates revisited". Royal Society Open Science. 9 (12): 220933. Bibcode:2022RSOS....920933I. doi:10.1098/rsos.220933. PMC 9727825. PMID 36483757.
12. Aria, Cédric; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2015-06-03). "Cephalic and Limb Anatomy of a New Isoxyid from the Burgess Shale and the Role of "Stem Bivalved Arthropods" in the Disparity of the Frontalmost Appendage". PLOS ONE. 10 (6): e0124979. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1024979A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124979. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4454494. PMID 26038846.
13. Aria, Cédric; Caron, Jean-Bernard; Gaines, Robert (2015). Zhang, Xi-Guang (ed.). "A large new leanchoiliid from the Burgess Shale and the influence of inapplicable states on stem arthropod phylogeny". Palaeontology. 58 (4): 629–660. doi:10.1111/pala.12161. S2CID 86443516.
14. Nanglu, Karma; Caron, Jean-Bernard; Gaines, Robert R. (2020). "The Burgess Shale paleocommunity with new insights from Marble Canyon, British Columbia". Paleobiology. 46 (1): 58–81. doi:10.1017/pab.2019.42. ISSN 0094-8373.
15. Aria, Cédric; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2019). "A middle Cambrian arthropod with chelicerae and proto-book gills". Nature. 573 (7775): 586–589. Bibcode:2019Natur.573..586A. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1525-4. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 31511691. S2CID 202550431.
16. Mayers, Benjamin; Aria, Cédric; Caron, Jean‐Bernard (2019). Zhang, Xi‐Guang (ed.). "Three new naraoiid species from the Burgess Shale, with a morphometric and phylogenetic reinvestigation of Naraoiidae". Palaeontology. 62 (1): 19–50. doi:10.1111/pala.12383. ISSN 0031-0239. S2CID 135331371.
17. Bond, Andrew D.; Edgecombe, Gregory D. (2021). Zhang, Xi‐Guang (ed.). "Phylogenetic response of naraoiid arthropods to early–middle Cambrian environmental change". Palaeontology. 64 (1): 161–177. doi:10.1111/pala.12516. ISSN 0031-0239. S2CID 229454194.
18. Morris, Simon Conway; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2014-08-01). "A primitive fish from the Cambrian of North America". Nature. 512 (7515): 419–422. Bibcode:2014Natur.512..419M. doi:10.1038/nature13414. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 24919146. S2CID 2850050.
19. Nanglu, Karma; Caron, Jean-Bernard; Conway Morris, Simon; Cameron, Christopher B. (2016-07-07). "Cambrian suspension-feeding tubicolous hemichordates". BMC Biology. 14 (1): 56. doi:10.1186/s12915-016-0271-4. ISSN 1741-7007. PMC 4936055. PMID 27383414.
20. Nanglu, Karma; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2018-01-22). "A New Burgess Shale Polychaete and the Origin of the Annelid Head Revisited". Current Biology. 28 (2): 319–326.e1. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.019. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 29374441. S2CID 2553089.
21. Osawa, H.; Caron, J.-B.; Gaines, R. R. (2023). "First record of growth patterns in a Cambrian annelid". Royal Society Open Science. 10 (4). 221400. doi:10.1098/rsos.221400. PMC 10130728. PMID 37122950.