The Wheeler Shale is a Cambrian (c. 507 Ma) fossil locality world-famous
for prolific agnostid and Elrathia kingii trilobite remains
and represents a Konzentrat-Lagerstätte. Varied soft bodied organisms are locally preserved, a fauna and preservation style normally associated with the more famous Burgess Shale. As such, the Wheeler Shale also represents a Konservat-Lagerstätten.
Elrathia kingii, famed trilobite of the Wheeler Shale.
Asaphiscus wheeleri, Cambrian, Wheeler shale, Utah
Emeraldella brocki an arthropod From the Burgess Shale
A Fossil-Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues. These formations may have resulted from carcass burial in an anoxic environment with minimal bacteria, thus delaying the decomposition of both gross and fine biological features until long after a durable impression was created in the surrounding matrix. Fossil-Lagerstätten span geological time from the Neoproterozoic era to the present.
Well-preserved basal arthropod Opabinia from Burgess Shale Lagerstätte (Middle Cambrian)
Archaeopteryx specimen from Solnhofen Lagerstätte (Upper Jurassic)
Fossil specimen of Echinochimaera from the Bear Gulch Limestone (Middle Carboniferous)
An early Stromatolite