Paleontological site
A paleontological or fossiliferous site is a locality in which a significant quantity of fossils is naturally preserved in the rocks.The extent of the site is determined, in some cases, by the spatial distribution of the concentration of fossils and in others by practical issues of sampling or excavation.The stratigraphy in marine environments usually has great lateral continuity and the fossils are distributed more or less distributed over large areas (e.g., in the Solnhofen Limestones in Germany),[3] whereas sediments of continental origin, mostly derived from the upper and middle reaches of rivers or from alluvial fans are usually more irregular and discontinuous, with fossils concentrated in only a few facies, usually in stream beds or scattered in alluvial plain (e.g., the Torralba and Ambrona sites in Spain).A peculiar site of mixed lacustrine-karst origin is the site of Bernissart (Belgium), where a subterranean karst system, through the continuous lowering of a doline, conditioned the sedimentation that took place in the lacustrine and marsh environment installed on it, gradually "swallowing" the sediments together with the abundant complete bones of iguanodonts and other vertebrates that they contained.Of this type are the sites of Messel (Germany), with abundant and exceptionally well-preserved Eocene fossils,[5] or the site of La Higueruelas (Ciudad Real, Spain), from the Upper Pliocene, which records an abundant and varied fauna of terrestrial mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles.
AtapuercapterosaurCtenochasmaSolnhofen LimestoneAmerican Museum of Natural Historyfossilspaleontologytaphonomyfossil-lagerstättesedimentaryvolcanicsedimentary mediummarinefluviallacustrinestratigraphySolnhofen Limestonesalluvial fansfaciesstream bedsalluvial plainTorralba and Ambrona siteshypogeouskarsticSima de los Huesossite of BernissartBelgiumdolineiguanodontsAustralopithecusichnitesLaetoliTanzaniaphreatomagmatic eruptionsites of MesselEoceneCiudad RealUpper PlioceneArchaeological siteDepositional environmentField (mineral deposit)Geological formationList of fossil sitesPetrified woodLópez Martínez, Nieves