Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T23:16:25.330Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Exceptional preservation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

Ronald E. Martin
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
Get access

Summary

O me, why have they not buried me deep enough?

Is it kind to have made me a grave so rough,

Me, that was never a quiet sleeper?

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Maud

Introduction

It has been estimated that from 66 to 79% of the biota of a marine community is not normally fossilized (e.g., Lawrence, 1968; see also Allison and Briggs, 1991a, b). Despite the improbability of preservation, there are numerous instances of exceptional preservation called Lagerstätten (singular Lagerstätte). The term comes from the mining industry and, loosely translated, means “fossil-motherlodes”, or rocks that are unusually rich in paleontological information. Seilacher (1970) recognized two types of Lagerstätten: (1) Konzentrat (concentration) deposits, which form by sedimentological and biological processes that largely exclude the preservation of soft parts and include shell beds, bone beds, and crinoidal limestones (Allison, 1988c); and (2) Konservat (conservation) deposits, which are characterized by preservation of soft-bodied fossils. Thus, Konzentrat-Lagerstätten are distinguished primarily by quantity whereas Konservat deposits are distinguished by the quality of preservation (Seilacher, 1990). Both types of deposits really represent end-members of a continuum in the preservational spectrum (Allison and Briggs, 1991a, b). Chapters 1–5 have been concerned with the formation and occurrence of Konzentrat-Lagerstätten. This chapter is devoted to major Konservat-Lagerstätten (Figure 6.1), in which soft-bodied organisms are preserved. Long viewed like the curios in an antique shop, the tremendous value of Konservat deposits was recognized only relatively recently.

Type
Chapter
Information
Taphonomy
A Process Approach
, pp. 235 - 267
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×