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A compression fossil is a fossil preserved in sedimentary rock that has undergone physical compression. While it is uncommon to find animals preserved as good compression fossils, it is very common to find plants preserved this way. The reason for this is that physical compression of the rock often leads to distortion of the fossil.
This is an overview of the paleofauna of the Eocene Messel Formation as explored by the Messel Pit excavations in Germany.A former quarry and now UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Messel Formation preserves what lived in and around a meromictic lake surrounded by a paratropical rainforest during the latest early to earliest middle Eocene, approximately 47 Ma.
This list of fossil sites is a worldwide list of localities known well for the presence of fossils. Some entries in this list are notable for a single, unique find, while others are notable for the large number of fossils found there.
Index fossils must have a short vertical range, wide geographic distribution and rapid evolutionary trends. Another term, "zone fossil", is used when the fossil has all the characters stated above except wide geographical distribution; thus, they correlate the surrounding rock to a biozone rather than a specific time period.
Fossil collecting (sometimes, in a non-scientific sense, fossil hunting) is the collection of fossils for scientific study, hobby, or profit. Fossil collecting, as practiced by amateurs, is the predecessor of modern paleontology and many still collect fossils and study fossils as amateurs.
The fossils within the shale show a remarkable clarity and preservation due to the unique depositional characteristics of the lake and so the Messel pit represents a Konservat-Lagerstätte. The upper stratifications of the lake most certainly supported a variety of organisms, but the bottom was subject to little disturbance by current, spawning ...
Sometimes, fossils contain only carbon. Fossils usually form when sediment buries a dead organism. As sediment piles up, the organism's remains are subjected to pressure and heat. These conditions force gases and liquids from the body. A thin film of carbon residue is left, forming a silhouette of the original organism called a carbon film. [1]
A polacanthine nodosaur known from reasonably complete fossil remains. Its skull measures 29 centimeters (11 in) in length, and its total body length is an estimated 3 to 4 meters (9.8 to 13.1 ft.). Its skull measures 29 centimeters (11 in) in length, and its total body length is an estimated 3 to 4 meters (9.8 to 13.1 ft.).