Lagerstätten

Lagerstätten (from German, singular: Lagerstätte) are sedimentary deposits that exhibit extraordinary fossil richness and completeness. The German word literally translates as "resting places." Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds: Konzentrat-Lagerstätten signifies deposits with a particular concentration of disarticulated organic hard parts, such as a bone bed, and Konservat-Lagerstätten signifies deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized organisms, where the soft parts are preserved, in the form of impressions or casts. The individual taphonomy of the fossils varies with the sites. Sometimes anoxic conditions, as in oxygen-free mud, have suppressed common bacterial decomposition long enough for the initial casts of soft body parts to register.

External link

• [http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Lagerstatten/ A catalogue of sites of exceptional fossil preservation produced by MSc Palaeobiology Students at

University of Bristol's Department of Earth Sciences.]

Some of the world's major Lagerstätten include:

• Ediacara Hills; 700 mya; South Australia
• Doushantuo Formation; between 600 and 555 mya: Guizhou Province, China
• Chenjiang fauna in the Maotianshan shales; 518 mya: Yunnan Province, China
• Sirius Passet; 518 mya; Greenland
• Burgess Shale; 505 mya ; British Columbia, Canada
• 'Orsten'; 500 mya; Sweden
• Rhynie Chert; 400 mya; Scotland
• Hunsrück Slates; 390 mya; Germany
• Mazon Creek; 300 mya; Illinois
  • Mazon Creek flora and fauna briefly discussed and illustrated in clearly photographed fossils.
• Karatau; 213 - 144 mya; Kazakhstan
• Holzmaden; 190 mya; Württemberg, Germany
• La Voulte-sur-Rhone' 160 mya; France
• Solnhofen limestone; 145 mya; Bavaria, Germany
• Chaomidianzi formation; ca 135 mya; Liaoning, China
• Crato Formation; Early Cretaceous (Aptian), ca 117 mya; northeast Brazil
• Santana formation; 108 - 92 mya; Brazil
• Green River Formation; 50 mya; Colorado/Utah/Wyoming
• Monte Bolca; 49 mya; Italy
• Messel Oil Shale; 49 mya; Hessen, Germany
• Dominican amber; 10 - 30 mya; Dominican Republic
• Ashfall Fossil Beds; 10 mya; Nebraska, United States
• Rancho La Brea Tar Pits; 20,000 yrs bp; California, United States