Back to Search
Start Over
Exceptional fossil record: distribution of soft-tissue preservation through the Phanerozoic
- Source :
- Geology. June, 1993, Vol. 21 Issue 6, p527, 4 p.
- Publication Year :
- 1993
-
Abstract
- Preservation of soft-bodied fossil biotas (Konservat-Lagerstatten) that preserve traces of volatile nonmineralized tissues (readily degraded by bacteria) are not evenly spaced through geologic time. When compared to outcrop area, exceptional faunas appear to be over-represented in the Cambrian and Jurassic. These concentrations n time correspond to particular environments, indicating that controls on the distribution of exceptional faunas may have operated on a global scale. The reduction in the number of exceptional faunas after the Cambrian may reflect the evolution and diversification of deep bio-turbators. Specific conditions favoring stagnation and episodic burial were required to ensure preservation in younger rocks.
Details
- ISSN :
- 00917613
- Volume :
- 21
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- Gale General OneFile
- Journal :
- Geology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsgcl.14086324