Tara Djokic , Patrick M. Smith , Jeff R. Havig , Michael Frese , Paulo Vasconcelos , Jochen Brocks , Michael Ellwood , David J. Cantrill , Dayna McGeeney , Ross Pogson , Chris Ryan , Yu Wang , Ai Nguyen , Matilda L. Rosas , Matthew R. McCurry
{"title":"McGraths平原铁层软组织保存的埋藏法Lagerstätte","authors":"Tara Djokic , Patrick M. Smith , Jeff R. Havig , Michael Frese , Paulo Vasconcelos , Jochen Brocks , Michael Ellwood , David J. Cantrill , Dayna McGeeney , Ross Pogson , Chris Ryan , Yu Wang , Ai Nguyen , Matilda L. Rosas , Matthew R. McCurry","doi":"10.1016/j.gr.2025.08.012","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Locating new fossil sites with exceptional soft-tissue preservation is vital for addressing taphonomic bias and accurately reconstructing the fossil record. McGraths Flat, a Miocene rainforest lake Konservat-Lagerstätte, uniquely preserves nanometre-scale soft-tissue structures in laminated Fe-oxyhydroxide (goethite) or ‘ferricrete’. However, constraints on the source of Fe, depositional conditions, and mechanisms that drove the exceptional soft-tissue preservation were lacking. Here, we demonstrate that warm, seasonally wet rainforest conditions generated acidic soils and transported dissolved Fe(II) from weathering basaltic bedrock into an oxbow lake. Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide precipitation then drove fossil burial and mineralization. Our findings suggest that ‘McGraths Flat-type’ fossil preservation may be common and could represent an untapped record of life on land.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12761,"journal":{"name":"Gondwana Research","volume":"149 ","pages":"Pages 429-444"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Taphonomy of soft-tissue preservation in ferricrete at the McGraths Flat Lagerstätte\",\"authors\":\"Tara Djokic , Patrick M. Smith , Jeff R. Havig , Michael Frese , Paulo Vasconcelos , Jochen Brocks , Michael Ellwood , David J. Cantrill , Dayna McGeeney , Ross Pogson , Chris Ryan , Yu Wang , Ai Nguyen , Matilda L. Rosas , Matthew R. McCurry\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.gr.2025.08.012\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><div>Locating new fossil sites with exceptional soft-tissue preservation is vital for addressing taphonomic bias and accurately reconstructing the fossil record. McGraths Flat, a Miocene rainforest lake Konservat-Lagerstätte, uniquely preserves nanometre-scale soft-tissue structures in laminated Fe-oxyhydroxide (goethite) or ‘ferricrete’. However, constraints on the source of Fe, depositional conditions, and mechanisms that drove the exceptional soft-tissue preservation were lacking. Here, we demonstrate that warm, seasonally wet rainforest conditions generated acidic soils and transported dissolved Fe(II) from weathering basaltic bedrock into an oxbow lake. Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide precipitation then drove fossil burial and mineralization. Our findings suggest that ‘McGraths Flat-type’ fossil preservation may be common and could represent an untapped record of life on land.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":12761,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Gondwana Research\",\"volume\":\"149 \",\"pages\":\"Pages 429-444\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":7.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-09-14\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Gondwana Research\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"89\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X25002771\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"地球科学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Gondwana Research","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X25002771","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Taphonomy of soft-tissue preservation in ferricrete at the McGraths Flat Lagerstätte
Locating new fossil sites with exceptional soft-tissue preservation is vital for addressing taphonomic bias and accurately reconstructing the fossil record. McGraths Flat, a Miocene rainforest lake Konservat-Lagerstätte, uniquely preserves nanometre-scale soft-tissue structures in laminated Fe-oxyhydroxide (goethite) or ‘ferricrete’. However, constraints on the source of Fe, depositional conditions, and mechanisms that drove the exceptional soft-tissue preservation were lacking. Here, we demonstrate that warm, seasonally wet rainforest conditions generated acidic soils and transported dissolved Fe(II) from weathering basaltic bedrock into an oxbow lake. Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide precipitation then drove fossil burial and mineralization. Our findings suggest that ‘McGraths Flat-type’ fossil preservation may be common and could represent an untapped record of life on land.
期刊介绍:
Gondwana Research (GR) is an International Journal aimed to promote high quality research publications on all topics related to solid Earth, particularly with reference to the origin and evolution of continents, continental assemblies and their resources. GR is an "all earth science" journal with no restrictions on geological time, terrane or theme and covers a wide spectrum of topics in geosciences such as geology, geomorphology, palaeontology, structure, petrology, geochemistry, stable isotopes, geochronology, economic geology, exploration geology, engineering geology, geophysics, and environmental geology among other themes, and provides an appropriate forum to integrate studies from different disciplines and different terrains. In addition to regular articles and thematic issues, the journal invites high profile state-of-the-art reviews on thrust area topics for its column, ''GR FOCUS''. Focus articles include short biographies and photographs of the authors. Short articles (within ten printed pages) for rapid publication reporting important discoveries or innovative models of global interest will be considered under the category ''GR LETTERS''.