Lagerstätten

Lagerstätten are deposits that exhibit extraordinary fossil richness and completeness. The word literally translates as "lode places." Perhaps a better (but looser) translation would be "mother lodes." Lagerstätten are the types of deposits that paleontologists search many lifetimes to find.

The Mazon Creek deposit is one world's major Lagerstätten. Other important ones include the following (with ages and locations):

• Ediacara Hills; 700 million years; South Australia
• Chengjiang; 525 million years; Yunnan Province, China
• Burgess Shale; 530 million years old; British Columbia, Canada
• Hunsrückschiefer; 370 million years old; Germany
• Holzmaden; 190 million years old; Württemberg, Germany
• Solnhofen Limestone; 150 million years old ; Bavaria, Germany
• Green River Formation; 50 million years old; Western United States
• Messel Oil Shale; 49 million years old; Hessen, Germany
• Ashfall Fossil Beds; 10 million years old; Nebraska, United States
• Rancho La Brea; 20,000 years; California, United States, and the La Brea Tarpits