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Lagerstätten (German; singular Lagerstätte; literally place of storage, resting place) are sedimentary deposits that exhibit extraordinary fossil richness or completeness. Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds.
Konzentrat-Lagerstätten (concentration lagerstätten) are deposits with a particular concentration of disarticulated organic hard parts, such as a bone bed or an oyster bed. These lagerstätten are less spectacular than the more famous Konservat-Lagerstätten.
Konservat-Lagerstätten (conservation lagerstätten) are deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized organisms, where the soft parts are preserved in the form of impressions or casts. This is caused by incompleteness of biological recycling, for example where anoxic conditions, as in oxygen-free mud, has suppressed common bacterial decomposition long enough for the initial casts of soft body parts to register. The individual taphonomy of the fossils varies with the sites. Conservation lagerstätten are crucial in providing answers to important moments in the history and evolution of life, for example the Burgess Shale is associated with the Cambrian explosion, and the Solnhofen limestone with the earliest known bird, archeopteryx.
Important Lagerstätten
Some of the world's major Lagerstätten include:
References
- - A catalogue of sites of exceptional fossil preservation produced by MSc palaeobiology students at University of Bristol's Department of Earth Sciences.
Paleontology | German loanwords
Fossillagerstätte | Yacimiento | Lijst van vindplaatsen van fossielen
"Lagerstätte"