Subj : ES Picture of the Day 09  2022
To   : All
From : Dan Richter
Date : Tue Aug 09 2022 12:00:34

 EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes
and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and
archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


 Ancient Fossil Assemblage Discovered in Utah

   August 09, 2022

    JoeB_3 (7)

 JoeB_1 (18)

Photographer:  Joe Bauman

Summary Author:  Joe Bauman

   While hunting  trilobites in 1994, my son, Sky, and I came upon a
    Cambrian site in Utah that at first seemed unpromising. But decades
   later, when I resumed studying rocks picked up there, it became obvious
   that this is one of the world’s most remarkable  Lagerstätten
   (extraordinary fossil assemblages) formations, with exceptional
   preservation, including soft tissue of ancient lifeforms. Because of
   the presence of the sponge-like  archaeocyathids, I’m able to date
   it to sometime during the  Early Cambrian Period, about 540 million
   or 530 million years ago. All of the fossils I found at this site are
   small, the largest just a few centimeters long; most are far tinier, in
   the range of millimeters or less.

   Among the remains are leaflike forms, possible holdovers from the
    Ediacaran Period of the Precambrian; echinoderms, particularly
   carpoids and Gogia, and  arthropods. The most astonishing of the
   last are fossils preserved within globules of crystal (probably
   calcite) or sheathed within it (bottom photo). Remains thus preserved
   often show soft material such as legs and internal structures. Note
   that insects preserved in amber are at least 200 million years younger.

   To protect the site from collectors, it’s important to keep the
   location secret from the public. But I’m hopeful that academic
   paleontologists will want to know the location and to borrow specimens,
   with which I’ll gladly comply. Eventually, many of the specimens I
   found will be donated to the  Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt
   Lake City. Scientists interested in learning more may contact me
   at  josephmbauman@yahoo.com.

   For a fuller description, see my blog at  The Early Cambrian: A New
   Utah Lagerstätte (the-nightly-news.com)



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Animal Links

     *  Animal Diversity Web
     *  ARKive
     *  BirdLife International
     *  Bug Guide
     *  Discover Life
     *  Integrated Taxonomic Information System
     *  Microbial Life Resources
       Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the
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        Universities Space Research Association.

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