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AFossil-Lagerstätte (German pronunciation:[ˈlaːɡɐˌʃtɛtə] – fromLager 'storage, lair' andStätte 'place';pl.Lagerstätten) is asedimentary deposit that preserves an exceptionally high amount ofpalaeontological information.[1]Konzentrat-Lagerstätten preserve a high concentration offossils, whileKonservat-Lagerstätten offer exceptional fossil preservation, sometimes including preserved soft tissues.Konservat-Lagerstätten may have resulted from carcass burial in ananoxic 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 spangeological time from theNeoproterozoic era to thepresent.
Worldwide, some of the best examples of near-perfect fossilization are theCambrianMaotianshan shales andBurgess Shale, theOrdovicianFezouata Biota,Beecher's Trilobite Bed, andSoom Shale, theSilurianWaukesha Biota, theDevonianHunsrück Slates andGogo Formation, theCarboniferousMazon Creek, theTriassicMadygen Formation, theJurassicPosidonia Shale andSolnhofen Limestone, theCretaceousYixian,Santana, andAgua Nueva formations and theTanis Fossil Site, theEoceneFur Formation,Green River Formation,Messel Formation andMonte Bolca, theMioceneFoulden Maar andAshfall Fossil Beds, thePlioceneGray Fossil Site, and thePleistoceneNaracoorte Caves andLa Brea Tar Pits.
Palaeontologists distinguish two major kinds:[nb 1][4][5]
Konservat-Lagerstätten preserve lightlysclerotized and soft-bodied organisms or traces of organisms that are not otherwise preserved in the usual shelly and bony fossil record; thus, they offer more complete records of ancient biodiversity and behavior and enable some reconstruction of thepalaeoecology of ancient aquatic communities. In 1986,Simon Conway Morris calculated only about 14% of genera in the Burgess Shale had possessedbiomineralized tissues in life. The affinities of the shelly elements ofconodonts were mysterious until the associated soft tissues were discovered near Edinburgh, Scotland, in the Granton LowerOil Shale of theCarboniferous.[6] Information from the broader range of organisms found inLagerstätten have contributed to recentphylogenetic reconstructions of some majormetazoan groups.Lagerstätten seem to be temporally autocorrelated, perhaps because global environmental factors such as climate might affect their deposition.[7]
A number oftaphonomic pathways may produceKonservat-Lagerstätten:[8]
The identification of a fossil site as aKonservat-Lagerstätte may be based on a number of different factors which constitute "exceptional preservation". These may include the completeness of specimens, soft tissue preservation, fine-scale detail,taxonomic richness, distinctive taphonomic pathways (often multiple at the same site), the extent of the fossil layer in time and space, and particular sedimentfacies encouraging preservation.[8]
| Site(s) | Age | Location | Significance | Notable fossils/organisms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
600–555 Ma | Spans the poorly understood interval between the end of theCryogenianperiod and the late EdiacaranAvalon explosion. |  | ||
(including theDrook,Briscal,Mistaken Point,Trepassey, andFermeuse Formations.)[9] | 565 Ma | Newfoundland, | This site contains one of the most diverse and well-preserved collections ofPrecambrianfossils. |  |
555 Ma | South | The type location theEdiacaran period, and has preserved a significant amount of fossils from that time. |  | |
| Maotianshan Shales (Chengjiang) | 518 Ma | Yunnan, China | The preservation of an extremely diverse faunal assemblage renders the Maotianshan Shales the world's most important formation for understanding the evolution of earlymulti-cellular life. Microscopic animals likeYicaris are preserved here, showing the presence of an Orsten-type deposit within the formation. This site also includes the Xiazhuang biota.[10][11] |  |
| Sirius Passet | 523-518 Ma | Greenland, Denmark | A site known for its fauna, and that they were most likely preserved by adeath mask. It is a part of the largerBuen Formation, and has a fauna similar to the Maotianshan shales. |  |
| Burgess Shale | 508 Ma | British Columbia, Canada | One of the most famous fossil localities in the world. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At 508 million years old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fossil beds containing soft-part imprints. |  |
500 Ma | The Orsten sites reveals the oldest well-documentedbenthicmeiofauna in the fossil record. Fossils such as microfossils of arthropods like free-livingpentastomids are known. Multiple "Orsten-type"lagerstätten are also known from other countries. |  | ||
| Fezouata Formation[12] | about 485 Ma | Draa Valley, Morocco | It was deposited in a marine environment, and is known for its exceptionally preserved fossils, filling an important preservational window beyond the earlier and more common CambrianBurgess shale-type deposits. |  |
| Winneshiek Shale | 460 Ma | Decorah,Iowa, US | A Middle Ordovician site confined to a large impact Crater that is known for exceptionally exquisite preservation of conodonts, bivalved arthropods, and the earliest eurypterids in the fossil record.[13] |  |
| Beecher's Trilobite Bed | 460? Ma | New York,US | Noted exceptionally preserved trilobites with soft tissue preserved bypyrite replacement. Pyritisation allows the use of X-rays to study fine detail of preserved soft body parts. |  |
| Soom Shale | 450? Ma |  South Africa | Known for its remarkable preservation of soft-tissue in fossil material. Deposited in still waters, the unit lacksbioturbation, perhaps indicatinganoxic conditions. |  |
| Waukesha Biota (Brandon Bridge Formation) | ~435 Ma Early Silurian | Wisconsin,US | Well-studied site known for the exceptional preservation of its diverse, soft-bodied and lightly skeletonized fauna, includes many majortaxa found nowhere else in strata of similar age. It was one of the first fossil sites with soft bodied preservation known to science. |  |
| Herefordshire Lagerstätte (Coalbrookdale Formation) | ~430 Ma | Herefordshire, UK | Known for the well-preserved fossils of variousinvertebrate animals many of which are in their three-dimensional structures. Fossils are preserved within volcanic ash, because of that sometimes this site has been compared toPompeii.[14] Some of the fossils are regarded as earliest evidences and evolutionary origin of some of the major groups of modern animals. |  |
| Bertie Group | 422.9-416 Ma | Ontario &New York State,Canada andUS | This limestone have produced thousands of fossileurypterids, such as giantAcutiramus and well-knownEurypterus, as well as other fauna like scorpions and fish. |  |
| Rhynie chert | 400 Ma | Scotland,UK | The Rhynie chert contains exceptionally preserved plant, fungus,lichen and animal material (euthycarcinoids, branchiopods, arachnids, hexapods, etc.) preserved in place by an overlyingvolcanic deposit and hot springs. As well as one of the first known fully terrestrial ecosystems. |  |
| Hunsrück Slates (Bundenbach) | Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany | The Hunsrück slates are one of the few marine Devonianlagerstätte having soft tissue preservation, and in many cases fossils are coated by a pyritic surface layer. |  | |
| Gogo Formation | 380 Ma (Frasnian) | Western Australia | The fossils of the Gogo Formation display three-dimensional soft-tissue preservation of tissues as fragile as nerves and embryos with umbilical cords. Over fifty species offish have been described from the formation, and arthropods. |  |
| Miguasha National Park (Escuminac Formation) | 370 Ma | Québec,Canada | Some of the fish, fauna, and spore fossils found at Miguasha are rare and ancient species. For example,Eusthenopteron is sarcopterygian that shares characters with earlytetrapods. |  |
| Waterloo Farm Lagerstätte (Witpoort Formation) | 360 Ma | South Africa | Important site that providing the only record of a high latitude (nearpolar) coastal ecosystem, overturning numerous assumptions about high latitude conditions during the latest Devonian. |  |
| East Kirkton Quarry[15] | 335 Ma | West Lothian,Scotland,UK | This site has produced numerous well-preserved fossils of early tetrapods liketemnospondyls orreptiliomorphs, and large arthropods like scorpions or eurypterids. |  |
| Bear Gulch Limestone | 324 Ma | Montana,US | Alimestone-richgeological lens in centralMontana. It is renowned for its unusual and ecologically diverse fossil composition ofchondrichthyans, the group of cartilaginous fish containing modernsharks,rays, andchimaeras. Other animals like brachiopods,ray finned fish, arthropods, and the possible molluskTyphloesus are also known from the site. |  |
| Joggins Fossil Cliffs (Joggins Formation) | 315 Ma | Nova Scotia,Canada | A fossil site that preserves a diverse terrestrial ecosystem consisting of plants like lycopsids, giant arthropods, fish, and the oldest knownsauropsid,Hylonomus. |  |
| Mazon Creek | 310 Ma | Illinois,US | A conservationlagerstätte found nearMorris, inGrundy County, Illinois. The fossils from this site are preserved inironstoneconcretions with exceptional detail. The fossils were preserved in a large delta system that covered much of the area. The state fossil of Illinois, the enigmatic animalTullimonstrum, is only known from these deposits. |  |
| Montceau-les-Mines | 300 Ma |  France | Exceptional preservation ofLate Carboniferous fossil biota are known, including various vertebrates and arthropods, as well as plants.[16][17] |  |
| Chemnitz petrified forest | 291 Ma | Saxony,Germany | Apetrified forest in Germany that is composed ofArthropitys bistriata, a type ofCalamites, gianthorsetails that are ancestors of modernhorsetails, found on this location with never seen multiple branches. Many more plants and animals from this excavation are still in an ongoing research.[18] |  |
| Kupferschiefer | 259–255 Ma | (North-CentralEurope) | This site deposited in an open marine and shallow marine environment provides fossils of reptiles as well as many fish. |  |
| Luoping Biota (Guanling Formation)[19] | ~247-245 Ma | Yunnan,China | Various marine animals are preserved in this site, showing how marine ecosystem recovered after Permian extinction.[20] |  |
| Grès à Voltzia | 245 Ma | France | A fossil site which have various arthropods as well as other fauna, remarkable for its detailed myriapod specimens.[21] It also contains the earliest knownaphid fossils.[22] |  |
| Besano Formation[23] | 242 Ma | Alps, Italy and Switzerland | This formation is designated as aWorld Heritage Site, as it is famous for its preservation of Middle Triassic marine life including fish and aquatic reptiles.[20][24] |  |
| Madygen Formation | 230 Ma |  Kyrgyzstan | The Madygen Formation is renowned for the preservation of more than 20,000 fossil insects, making it one of the richest Triassic lagerstätten in the world. Other vertebrate fossils as fish,amphibians, reptiles andsynapsids have been recovered from the formation too, as well as minor fossil flora. |  |
| Cow Branch Formation | 230 Ma | Virginia,US | This site preserves a wide variety of organisms (including Fish, reptiles,arachnids, andinsects). |  |
| Holzmaden/Posidonia Shale | 183 Ma | Württemberg,Germany | The Sachrang member is among the most important formations of the Toarcian boundary, due to the concentrations of exceptionally well-preserved complete skeletons of fossil marine fish and reptiles. It was also deposited during theTOAE.[25][26] |  |
| La Voulte-sur-Rhône | 160 Mya | Ardèche,France | La Voulte-sur-Rhône, in theArdèche region of southwesternFrance, offers paleontologists an outstanding view of an undisturbedpaleoecosystem that was preserved in fine detail. Notable finds includeretinal structures in the eyes ofthylacocephalan arthropods, and fossilized relatives of the modern dayvampire squid, likeVampyronassa rhodanica. |  |
| Karabastau Formation | 155.7 Ma |  Kazakhstan | This site is an important locality for insect fossils that has been studied since the early 20th century, alongside the rarer remains of vertebrates, includingpterosaurs,salamanders,lizards andcrocodiles. | .JPG) |
| Tiaojishan Formation | 165-153 Ma | Liaoning Province,China | It is known for its exceptionally preserved fossils, including those of plants, insects and vertebrates. It is made up mainly ofpyroclastic rock interspersed with basic volcanic andsedimentary rocks. Forms a part of theYanliao Biota. |  |
| Solnhofen Archipelago Lagerstätten (including theAltmühltal,Painten,Torleite, andMörnsheim Formations) | 149-148 Ma | Bavaria,Germany | This site is unique as it preserves a rare assemblage offossilized organisms, including highly detailed imprints of soft bodied organisms such assea jellies. The most familiar fossils of theSolnhofen Plattenkalk include the early featheredtheropod dinosaurArchaeopteryx preserved in such detail that they are among the most famous and most beautiful fossils in the world. | .jpg) |
| Las Hoyas | about 125 Ma (Barremian) | Cuenca, Spain | The site is mostly known for its exquisitely preserved dinosaurs, especiallyenantiornithines. The lithology of the formation mostly consists oflacustarinelimestone deposited in a freshwater wetland environment. |  |
| Jehol Biota | 125–119 Ma | NortheastChina | Contains at minimum theYixian andJiufotang formations, probably also theDabeigou,[27]Huajiying,[28] and maybe theSinuiju series ofNorth Korea.[29] This biota is known for its exceptional preservation of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, fish, insects and other animals within a high altitude lake with periodicvolcaniclastics from nearby volcanoes.[30][31] |  |
| Santana Group | 113-92 Ma | northeast Brazil | Contains theCrato andRomualdo Formations[32] Both sites are known for their exceptional preservation ofpterosaurs, fish, invertebrates, and plants from a lake environment. |  |
| Sannine Formation (Haqel, Hjoula, and al-Nammouralagerstätten) | 95-94 Ma |  Lebanon | Famous Lebanesekonservat-lagerstätten of the LateCretaceous (middle to lateCenomanian) age, which contain a well-preserved variety of different fossils. Small animals like shrimp, octopus, stingrays, and bony fishes are common finds at these sites. Some of the rarest fossils from this locality include those ofoctopuses.[33] |  |
| Burmese amber | 101-99 Ma (latest Albian/earliestCenomanian) |  Myanmar | More than 1,000 species of taxa have been described from ambers fromHukawng Valley. While it is important for understanding the evolution of biota, mainly insects, during the Cretaceous period, it is also extremely controversial by facing ethical issues due to its association with conflicts and labor conditions. |  |
| London Clay[2] | 54–48 Ma | England,UK | Collected for close to 300 years, Plant fossils, especially seeds and fruits, are found in abundance. Some 350 named species of plant have been found, making the London Clay flora one of the world's most diverse for fossil seeds and fruits. The flora includes tropical taxa found in modern Asia, reflecting the much warmer climate of theearly Eocene. Also is considered a potential "Liberation lagerstätte"see notes |  |
| Green River Formation | 50 Ma | Colorado/Utah/Wyoming,US | An Eocene aged site that is noted for the fish fauna preserved. Other fossils include thecrocodilians,birds, andmammals. |  |
| Monte Bolca | 50-49 Ma | Verona,Italy | A fossil site with specimens of fish and other organisms that are so highly preserved that theirorgans are often completely intact in fossil form, and even the skin color can sometimes be determined. It is assumed that mud at the site was low in oxygen, preventing both decay and the mixing action of scavengers from harming the fossils.[34] |  |
| Messel Formation | 47 Ma | Hessen,Germany | This site has significant geological and scientific importance. Over 1000 species of plants and animals have been found at the site. After almost becoming a landfill, strong local resistance eventually stopped these plans and the Messel Pit was declared aUNESCO World Heritage Site on 9 December 1995. Significant scientific discoveries about the early evolution of mammals and birds are still being made at the Messel Pit, and the site has increasingly become a tourist site as well. |  |
| Baltic amber | 47-35 Ma (Lutetian toPriabonian) | Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland &Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia | The largest amber deposit on Earth, this amber is part of thePrussian Formation, and preserves a high diversity of exceptionally well-preserved fossil invertebrates, plants, and small vertebrates that inhabited eastern Europe during the warmer, subtropical conditions of the middle Eocene. It is the largest world's single largest repository of fossil insects.[35][36][37][38] | .jpg) |
| Riversleigh | 25–15 Ma | Queensland,Australia | This locality is recognised for the series of well preserved fossils deposited from theLate Oligocene to theMiocene. The fossiliferous limestone system is located near theGregory River in the north-west ofQueensland, an environment that was once a very wet rainforest that became more arid as the Gondwanan land masses separated and the Australian continent moved north. |  |
| Shanwang Formation | 18-17 Ma | Shandong Province,China | Fossils have been found at this site in dozens of categories, representing over 600 separate species. Animal fossils include insects, fish, spiders, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Insect fossils have clear, intact veins. Some have retained beautiful colours. |  |
| Pisco Formation | 15-2 Ma | Arequipa &Ica, Peru | Several specialists consider the Pisco Formation one of the most importantlagerstätten, based on the large amount of exceptionally preserved marine fossils, including sharks (most notablymegalodon),penguins,whales,dolphins, birds, marine crocodiles and aquaticgiant sloths. |  |
| Ashfall Fossil Beds | 11.83 Ma | Nebraska,US | The Ashfall Fossil Beds ofAntelope County in northeasternNebraska are rarefossil sites of the type calledlagerstätten that, due to extraordinary local conditions, capture an ecological "snapshot" in time of a range of well-preserved fossilized organisms. Ash from aYellowstone hotspot eruption 10-12 million years ago created these fossilizedbone beds. |  |
| Gray Fossil Site | 4.9-4.5 Ma | Tennessee,US | As the first site of its age known from theAppalachian region, the Gray Fossil Site is a unique window into the past. Research at the site has yielded many surprising discoveries, including new species ofred panda,rhinoceros,pond turtle,hickory tree, and more. The site also hosts the world's largest known assemblage of fossiltapirs. |  |
| The Mammoth Site | 26Ka | South Dakota,US | The facility encloses a prehistoricsinkhole that formed and was slowly filled withsediments during thePleistocene era. As of 2016, the remains of 61mammoths, including 58 North AmericanColumbian and 3woolly mammoths had been recovered. Mammoth bones were found at the site in 1974, and a museum and building enclosing the site were established. |  |
| RanchoLa Brea Tar Pits | 40–12 Ka | California,US | A group oftar pits where naturalasphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch;brea in Spanish) has seeped up from the ground for tens of thousands of years. Over many centuries, the bones of trapped animals have been preserved. Among the prehistoric species associated with the La Brea Tar Pits arePleistocene mammoths,dire wolves,short-faced bears,American lions,ground sloths, and, thestate fossil ofCalifornia, the saber-toothed cat (Smilodon fatalis). |  |
| Naracoorte Caves | 500-1Ka | South Australia,Australia | A series of caves that preserve numerous pleistocenemegafauna, likeThylacoleo, and is recognized as a World heritage site alongside the older, but geographically similar Riversleigh site. |  |
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