Deep Heat Solution To 500-million Year Fossil Mystery
Monday, November 24, 2008 - 22:28
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Scientists have shed new light on a 500-million year old mystery. Some 500 million year-old fossils of the Burgess Shale in Canada, discovered over a century ago, still provide one of the most remarkable insights into the dawn of animal life. The beautiful silvery fossils show the true nature of the life of that time, just after the "Cambrian explosion" of animal life. Yet, their existence is a paradox: the fossils have been buried deep in the Earth's crust and heated to over 300°C (~600 °F), before being thrust up by tectonic forces to form a mountainous ridge in the Rockies.