Exceptional Fossil Preservation During CO2 Greenhouse Crises? Gregory J
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 307 (2011) 59–74 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/palaeo Exceptional fossil preservation during CO2 greenhouse crises? Gregory J. Retallack Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA article info abstract Article history: Exceptional fossil preservation may require not only exceptional places, but exceptional times, as demonstrated Received 27 October 2010 here by two distinct types of analysis. First, irregular stratigraphic spacing of horizons yielding articulated Triassic Received in revised form 19 April 2011 fishes and Cambrian trilobites is highly correlated in sequences in different parts of the world, as if there were Accepted 21 April 2011 short temporal intervals of exceptional preservation globally. Second, compilations of ages of well-dated fossil Available online 30 April 2011 localities show spikes of abundance which coincide with stage boundaries, mass extinctions, oceanic anoxic events, carbon isotope anomalies, spikes of high atmospheric carbon dioxide, and transient warm-wet Keywords: Lagerstatten paleoclimates. Exceptional fossil preservation may have been promoted during unusual times, comparable with fi Fossil preservation the present: CO2 greenhouse crises of expanding marine dead zones, oceanic acidi cation, coral bleaching, Trilobite wetland eutrophication, sea level rise, ice-cap melting, and biotic invasions. Fish © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Carbon dioxide Greenhouse 1. Introduction Zeigler, 1992), sperm (Nishida et al., 2003), nuclei (Gould, 1971)and starch granules (Baxter, 1964). Taphonomic studies of such fossils have Commercial fossil collectors continue to produce beautifully pre- emphasized special places where fossils are exceptionally preserved pared, fully articulated, complex fossils of scientific(Simmons et al., (Martin, 1999; Bottjer et al., 2002).
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