Emu Bay Shale

Emu Bay Shale
Emu Bay Shale
Stratigraphic range:
	North Coast of Kangaroo Island, Emu Bay
Type	Geological formation
Unit of	Kangaroo Island Group
Underlies	Boxing Bay Formation
Overlies	Marsden Sandstone (unconformity)
Thickness	78 m (256 ft), of which the lowest 10 m are fossiliferous
Lithology
Primary	Shale
Other	Sandstone
Location
Coordinates	35°35′S 137°30′E / 35.583°S 137.500°E
Approximate paleocoordinates	12°30′N 161°12′W / 12.5°N 161.2°W
Region	The north coast of Kangaroo Island, around Emu Bay and Cape D'Estaing, South Australia
Country	Australia
Type section
Named for	Emu Bay

The Emu Bay Shale is a geological formation in Emu Bay, South Australia, containing a major Konservat-Lagerstätte (fossil beds with soft tissue preservation). It is one of two in the world containing Redlichiidan trilobites. The Emu Bay Shale is dated as Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4, correlated with the upper Botomian Stage of the Lower Cambrian.^[2]

Its mode of preservation is the same as the Burgess shale, but the larger grain size of the Emu Bay rock means that the quality of preservation is lower.^[3] More than 50 species of trilobites, non-biomineralized arthropods, palaeoscolecids, a lobopodian, a polychaete, vetulicolians, nectocaridids, hyoliths, brachiopods, sponges, chancelloriids, and a chelicerate are known from the Emu Bay Shale.^[4]

^ García-Bellido, D. C.; Paterson, J. R.; Edgecombe, G. D. (2013). "Cambrian palaeoscolecids (Cycloneuralia) from Gondwana and reappraisal of species assigned to Palaeoscolex". Gondwana Research. 24 (2): 780. Bibcode:2013GondR..24..780G. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2012.12.002.
^ J. B. Jago, Xiaowen Sun and Wen-long Zang (December 2002). "Correlation within early Palaeozoic basins of eastern South Australia" (PDF). pp. 1–22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-13. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
^ Glaessner, M. F. (1979). "Lower Cambrian Crustacea and annelid worms from Kangaroo Island, South Australia" (PDF). Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 3 (1): 21–31. Bibcode:1979Alch....3...21G. doi:10.1080/03115517908565437.
^ Jago, James B.; García-Bellido, Diego C.; Gehling, James G. (2016-07-01). "An early Cambrian chelicerate from the Emu Bay Shale, South Australia". Palaeontology. 59 (4): 549–562. Bibcode:2016Palgy..59..549J. doi:10.1111/pala.12243. ISSN 1475-4983.