4.7 Article

A silicified bird from Quaternary hot spring deposits

Journal

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 272, Issue 1566, Pages 905-911

Publisher

ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2989

Keywords

hot spring deposits; silicification; fossilization; geomicrobiology; avian fossil

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The first avian fossil recovered from high-temperature hot spring deposits is a three-dimensional external body mould of an American coot (Fulica americana) from Holocene sinters of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA. Silica encrustation of the carcass, feathers and colonizing microbial communities occurred within days of death and before substantial soft tissue degradation, allowing preservation of gross body morphology, which is usually lost under other fossilization regimes. We hypothesize that the increased rate and extent of opal-A deposition, facilitated by either passive or active microbial mediation following carcass colonization, is required for exceptional preservation of relatively large, fleshy carcasses or soft-bodied organisms by mineral precipitate mould formation. We suggest physico-chemical parameters conducive to similar preservation in other vertebrate specimens, plus distinctive sinter macrofabric markers of hot spring subenvironments where these parameters are met.

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