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Beecher's Trilobite Beds
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Type | |
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Age |
Late Ordovician |
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Unit of | |
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Thickness |
3-4 cm |
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Lithology | |
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Named for | |
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Region |
Rome, Oneida Co., New York. |
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Country |
USA |
Beecher's Trilobite Beds is a Konservat-Lagerstätten of Late Ordovician (Caradoc) age located within the Frankfort Shale in Cleveland's Glen, Rome, Oneida Co., New York, USA.[1][2] Only 3-4 centimeters thick, Beecher's Trilobite Beds have yielded numerous exceptionally preserved trilobites with the ventral anatomy and soft tissue intact, the soft tissue preserved by pyrite replacement.[2][3] Pyritisation allows the use of X-rays to study fine detail of preserved soft body parts still within the host rock.[1][4] Pyrite replacement of soft tissue is unusual in the fossil record;[5] the only Lagerstätten thought to show such preservation were Beechers Trilobite Beds, the Devonian Hunsrück Slates of Germany, and the Jurassic beds of La Voultesur- Rhône in France,[6] although new locations are coming to light.[3]
Originally discovered in 1892 by William S. Valiant, the site was first excavated from 1893-1895 by Charles Emerson Beecher of Yale University, after whom the location is named. Beecher published two papers describing a trilobite larval form[7] and trilobite limbs[8] from material collected from within the Bed, but he died unexpectedly in 1904. Upon Beecher's death, much material and details of the location were lost.[1] Amateur fossil collectors Tom Whiteley and Dan Cooper rediscovered the location in 1984 and from 1989 major academic excavations and studies (re)-commenced.[9][10] The small quarry at the site is currently closed to public access, being administered by Yale Peabody Museum[11] as part of ongoing research projects.[10]
See also
Edit
- Beecher’s Trilobite type preservation, the preservational pathway responsible
- Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University (official website)
ReferencesEdit
- ^ a b c Martha Buck's senior thesis on the Beecher's Trilobite Bed
- ^ a b Photos (and more) of Beecher's Bed trilobites from the Peabody Museum, Yale
- ^ a b Butterfield, Nicholas J. (2003). "Exceptional Fossil Preservation and the Cambrian Explosion". Integrative and Comparative Biology 43 (1): 166–177. doi:.
- ^ X-ray mages and 3D GIFs of preserved trilobite appendages by Amherst College
- ^ Derek E.G. Briggs; Simon H. Bottrell; Robert Raiswell (1991). "Pyritization of soft-bodied fossils: Beecher's Trilobite Bed, Upper Ordovician, New York State". Geology 19 (12): 1221-1224. doi:.
- ^ Soft-body pyritisation localities & how it happens
- ^ Beecher, C.E. (1893a). "A larval form of Triarthrus". American Journal of Science 46: 361-362.
- ^ Beecher, C.E. (1893b). "On the thoracic legs of Triarthrus". American Journal of Science 46: 467-470.
- ^ Brett, Carlton E.; Whiteley, Thomas E. (2005). "Presentation of the Harrell L. Strimple Award of the Paleontological Society to Thomas E. Whitely/response by Thomeas E. Whitely". Journal of Paleontology July. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3790/is_200507/ai_n14715562.
- ^ a b Yale Peabody (Briggs Laboratory) research projects.
- ^ Forum talk regarding Beecher's Quarry access.
