Submitted
World-class Paleontologists and Geologists are came to Cranbrook August 22 and 23 to take part in a fossil research expedition.
Dr. Brian Chatterton, Professor Emeritus from the University of Alberta is acknowledged as one of the world’s pre-eminent Palaeontologists in the study of Trilobites.
Dr. Nat Rutter, Professor Emeritus from the University of Alberta, has an outstanding reputation, long honoured for his work in Quaternary Geology and related Climate Change.
These world experts along with other members of the Board of the prestigious Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation will examine and review the local geology and look at some newly discovered East Kootenay Trilobite fossil sites near the Bull River.
The research expedition is being organized and sponsored by the College of The Rockies, exploring educational opportunities as part of the fossil site development.
The sheer scale of the sites will require a long-term approach to both the approach to research and prudent management of such a rare remarkable paleontological resource.
The East Kootenay discoveries are exciting Paleontologists from around the globe. While the research has only started on these sites, some 100 different species of trilobites, many of which are new to science, have been uncovered.
Many of the newly discovered species of trilobites and sites found in the Bull River Valley of the East Kootenay will be scientifically classified and named later this year.
The August 23 Trilobite Research Project expedition will provide expert evaluation of the uniqueness of the fossil site’s access to consecutive layers of fossil bearing rock. There are sometimes hundreds of meters in thickness that appears to give an unbroken record of hundreds of thousand of years of life on earth.
The 500+ million year old trilobites located in of the Bull River are estimated to be roughly equivalent to another one of the “world’s most significant fossil sites”, the Burgess Shale site near Field B.C.