Emu Bay Shale

The Emu Bay Shale is a geological formation on the north coast of Kangaroo Island, South Australia, around Emu Bay and Cape D'Estaing, containing a major Konservat-Lagerstatte, a fossil deposit noted for preserving soft tissue. It dates to Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4, the upper Botomian of the Early Cambrian, and is about 78 meters thick, though only its lowest 10 meters are strongly fossiliferous, consisting mainly of shale with some sandstone. Its preservation mode parallels the Burgess Shale, though its coarser grain size gives lower-quality preservation, and it is one of only two known sites worldwide preserving Redlichiidan trilobites with soft-tissue detail, also yielding the oldest known phosphatized muscle tissue. More than 50 trilobite species and a diverse array of non-biomineralized arthropods have been described from the site, including the radiodont Anomalocaris, along with sponges and brachiopods.