Charles D. Walcott: A Few Comments on Stratigraphy and Sedimentation

Abstract

Throughout his career, Charles D.Walcott was a prodigious scientist.Although perhaps best known for his contributions to our understanding of the Cambrian System, including discovery of the Burgess Shale Biota,Walcott made other important contributions to stratigraphy and sedimentology that have had a lasting impact. Some contributions seem to have been quite deliberate, whereas others may have been less conscious. Examples of his deliberate scientific efforts are: measuring and describing more than 8250 m (25,000 ft) of strata in Utah and Arizona; interpreting the origin of limestone breccia and conglomerate within a limestone matrix; calculation of geologic time from rates of sedimentary deposition; and consideration of the Ozarkian and Canadian as time periods. An interesting contribution that may have been less obvious is the observation that limestones could form quickly in shallow marine water.