Exceptional preservation in the Jurassic of Osteno
- 17 October 1985
- journal article
- Published by The Royal Society in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences
- Vol. 311 (1148) , 171-180
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1985.0149
Abstract
The Sinemurian deposit of Osteno, discovered in 1964, is remarkable for the exceptional preservation of its fossils. They are almost exclusively non-calcareous organisms such as fishes, crustaceans, polychaetes and nematodes. Their exceptional fossilization is due to a metasomatic process implying a molecule-for-molecule replacement of the organic material by colloidal calcium phosphate, a process that has permitted the preservation of the soft tissues of the organisms in some cases even to cellular level. The Osteno deposit formed on a poorly oxygenated sea bottom inhabited by fauna with a low taxonomic diversity, in some cases monotypic. Infaunal organisms are not found in the deposit since the H 2 S-O 2 boundary was probably situated slightly below the water-sediment interface.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Some controversial aspects of the morphology and anatomy of Ostenocaris cypriformis (Crustacea, Thylacocephala)Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1985