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Journal of the Geological Society; 2004; v. 161; issue.5; p. 735-738;
DOI: 10.1144/0016-764903-164
© 2004 Geological Society of London

Original Article

Experimental attachment of sediment particles to invertebrate eggs and the preservation of soft-bodied fossils

Derek Martin1, Derek E.G. Briggs & R. John Parkes1

1 1School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Cardiff University, Main Building, PO Box 914, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3YE, UK (e-mail: dmartin@earth.cf.ac.uk)
2 2Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA

Clay minerals can be an important agent in the fossilization of soft tissues, notably in the Ordovician Soom Shale of South Africa and the Cambrian Burgess Shale of Canada. The replication of morphology has been attributed to adsorption of pre-existing clay minerals, or direct precipitation of authigenic clays onto tissues. Attachment of quartz and kaolinite to the surface of lobster eggs demonstrates experimentally for the first time that soft tissues could fossilize in pre-existing minerals. However, the eggs became coated only in the presence of metabolizing bacteria. This experimental approach could be used to explore why Burgess Shale-type preservation declined after the mid-Cambrian.

Key Words: Soom Shale • Burgess Shale • fossilization • mineralization • clay




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D. MARTIN, D. E.G. BRIGGS, and R. J. PARKES
Decay and Mineralization of Invertebrate Eggs
Palaios, 2005; 20: 562 - 572.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]