{"title":"Silicification of feathers in a modern hot spring in New Zealand","authors":"Tao Zhao, Liang Hu, Yan-Hong Pan","doi":"10.1017/S1755691022000068","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Fossil feathers have greatly improved our understanding of the evolutionary transition from non-avian dinosaurs to birds and the evolution of feathers, and may be the only evidence for their source animals in the fossil record. Hot spring environments have been demonstrated to be conducive to the preservation of fossils, but internal silicification of feathers was not observed in the only avian carcass so far discovered in ancient hot spring deposits. To determine whether feathers can be internally silicified, here we analyse feathers sampled from a modern hot spring vent pool – Champagne Pool – in New Zealand. Our results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry elemental mapping show that the sampled feathers are silicified to different degrees, and one of them is pervasively silicified. SEM observations show that feathers can be silicified at the cellular level. Degradation is involved in the silicification of feathers, as indicated by the reduction of the abundance of carbon and the loss of keratin fibrils. Our findings suggest that ancient deposits of hot spring vent pools are promising targets in search for fossil feathers.","PeriodicalId":55171,"journal":{"name":"Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh","volume":"113 1","pages":"119 - 125"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2022-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755691022000068","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT Fossil feathers have greatly improved our understanding of the evolutionary transition from non-avian dinosaurs to birds and the evolution of feathers, and may be the only evidence for their source animals in the fossil record. Hot spring environments have been demonstrated to be conducive to the preservation of fossils, but internal silicification of feathers was not observed in the only avian carcass so far discovered in ancient hot spring deposits. To determine whether feathers can be internally silicified, here we analyse feathers sampled from a modern hot spring vent pool – Champagne Pool – in New Zealand. Our results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry elemental mapping show that the sampled feathers are silicified to different degrees, and one of them is pervasively silicified. SEM observations show that feathers can be silicified at the cellular level. Degradation is involved in the silicification of feathers, as indicated by the reduction of the abundance of carbon and the loss of keratin fibrils. Our findings suggest that ancient deposits of hot spring vent pools are promising targets in search for fossil feathers.
期刊介绍:
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions (formerly Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences) is a general earth sciences journal publishing a comprehensive selection of substantial peer-reviewed research papers, reviews and short communications of international standard across the broad spectrum of the Earth and its surface environments. The journal prides itself on the quality of its graphics and photographic reproduction. The Editors are keen to encourage interdisciplinary papers and Transactions also publishes occasional special symposia and invited volumes of specific interest.
We are currently in the process of digitising the archive of RSE Publications, and the archive of the Transactions, dating back to 1788, will be available from the back issues link on this site.