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A Fossil Lagerstatten Is A Form Of Sedimentary Deposits

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A fossil Lagerstätten is a form of sedimentary deposit that is of high value due to the fossils that it contains (Clarkson, 1998). The geological horizons containing these deposits were named by the German Palaeontologist Adolf Seilacher in 1985 (Nudds & Seldon, 2008), ‘Lager’ meaning Stratum and ‘Stätte’ meaning place (Allaby, 2013).
Palaeontologists divide fossil Lagerstätten into two types; Konservant-Lagerstätten (Nudds & Seldon, 2008), or conservation deposits, are horizons that show exceptional preservation of organisms, this may also include soft part preservation in some cases (Clarkson, 1998). This type of preservation usually occurs due to the inhibition of decay of the soft tissue (Briggs, 2014). For marine fossils, this can occur because of either rapid burial of the biota (Clarkson, 1998) or deposition in areas of low oxygen concentration (Briggs, 2014).
The second type is Konzentrat-Lagerstätten (Nudds & Seldon, 2008) or concentration Lagerstätten, which are deposits on certain horizons in which an exceptionally large number of fossil have been preserved. These usually occur when there has been a low rate of sedimentation over a time period (Clarkson, 1998).
Discovered by Charles Walcott in 1909, The Burgess Shale is an example of conservation Lagerstätte (Briggs, 2014). Dating back to 505 million years ago, it provides fossils of marine organisms dating back to the middle Cambrian period, not long after the Cambrian explosion, a period of time when organisms

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