Solnhofen limestone

Solnhofen Limestone

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Solnhofen limestone

The Solnhofen limestone is a Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period that extends from about annum to Ma, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous....
Konservat-Lagerstätte

Lagerstätte

File:Greenww.jpgA Lagerst?tte is a Sedimentation deposit that exhibits extraordinary Fossils richness or completeness. Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds....
that preserves a rare assemblage of fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
ized organisms, some of which, such as sea jellies, don't ordinarily fossilize at all. Others, like the early bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx, sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is the earliest and most primitive bird known. The name is from the Ancient Greek archaios meaning 'ancient' and pteryx meaning 'feather' or 'wing'; ....
are preserved in such detail that they are among the most famous and most beautiful fossils in the world. The Solnhofen beds lie in the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
state of Bavaria (Bayern)

Bavaria

Bavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is a region located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest States of Germany of Germany by area....
, halfway between Nuremberg (Nürnberg)

Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a city in the Germany State of Bavaria, in the Regierungsbezirk of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz River river and the Rhine?Main?Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city....
and Munich (München)

Munich

Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Northern Limestone Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg....
.

ng the Late Jurassic

Late Jurassic

The Late Jurassic Epoch of the Jurassic Period is the unit of geologic time scale from 161.2 ? 4.0 to 145.5 ? 4.0 million years ago, which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum....
, this area was an archipelago

Archipelago

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The Solnhofen limestone is a Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period that extends from about annum to Ma, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous....
Konservat-Lagerstätte

Lagerstätte

Fossil

Bird

Germany

Bavaria

Nuremberg

Munich

Paleoenvironment and preservation

During the Late Jurassic

Late Jurassic

Archipelago

An archipelago is a chain or cluster of islands that are formed tectonically. The word archipelago literally means "chief sea", from Italian language arcipelago , derived ultimately from Greek language arkhon and pelagos ....
at the edge of the Tethys Sea. This included placid lagoons that had limited access to the open sea and where salinity rose high enough that the resulting brine could not support life. Since the lowest water was devoid of oxygen

Oxygen

Oxygen no O2 produced; 2) O2 produced, but absorbed in oceans & seabed rock; 3) O2 starts to gas out of the oceans, but is absorbed by land surfaces and formation of ozone layer; 4-5) O2 sinks filled and the gas accumulates]]...
, many ordinary scavengers were absent. Any organism that fell, drifted, or was washed into the lagoons from the ocean or the land became buried in soft carbonate

Carbonate

In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt or ester of carbonic acid....
mud. Thus, many delicate creatures avoided consumption by scavengers or being torn apart by currents. The wings of dragonflies

Dragonfly

A dragonfly is a type of insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera....
, the imprints of stray feather

Feather

Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates....
s, and terrestrial plants that washed into the lagoons were all preserved. The fossils are not numerous, but some of them are spectacular, and their range gives a comprehensive picture of a local Jurassic ecosystem

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
.

At times, the lagoons almost dried out, exposing sticky carbonate muds that trapped insects and even a few small dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s. Over 600 species have been identified, including twenty-nine kinds of pterosaur

Pterosaur

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or Order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight....
ranging from the size of a sparrow to 1.2 m (4 ft) in length have been found.

The fine-grained texture of the mud silt

Silt

Silt is soil or Rock derived granular material of a Particle size between sand and clay. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body....
forming the limestone

Limestone

File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
from the Solnhofen

Solnhofen

Solnhofen is a Municipalities of Germany in the district of Wei?enburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Franconia in the Land of Bavaria in Germany....
area (which is composed mainly of the towns of Solnhofen

Solnhofen

Solnhofen is a Municipalities of Germany in the district of Wei?enburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Franconia in the Land of Bavaria in Germany....
and Eichstätt

Eichstätt

Eichst?tt is a city in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the Eichst?tt . It is located along the Altm?hl River, at , and had a population of 13,078 in 2002....
) is ideal for making lithographic

Lithography

Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface. By contrast, in intaglio a plate is engraving, etching or mezzotint to make cavities to contain the printing ink, and in woodblock printing and letterpress ink is applied to the raised surfaces of letters or images....
plates, and extensive quarrying in the 19th century revealed many fossil finds, as commemorated in the name Archaeopteryx lithographica, all the specimens of which come from these deposits.

Fauna

Birds and other dinosaurs

Dinosaur Dinosaur Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event.... s of the Solnhofen Formation
Taxa	Presence	Description	Images
Genus: Archaeopteryx Archaeopteryx *Archaeopteryx, sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel* , is the earliest and most primitive bird known. The name is from the Ancient Greek archaios meaning 'ancient' and pteryx meaning 'feather' or 'wing'; .... A. lithographica A. bavarica	Geographically located in Bayern, Germany. Geographically located in Bayern, Germany.
Genus: Compsognathus Compsognathus *Compsognathus* was a small, bipedalism, carnivore theropoda dinosaur. The animal was the size of a turkey and lived around 150 mya , the early Tithonian faunal stage of the late Jurassic Period , in what is now Europe.... C. longipes	Geographically located in Bayern, Germany.
Superorder: Dinosauria Possible dinosaur eggs.	Geographically located in Bayern, Germany.
Genus: Wellnhoferia Wellnhoferia *Wellnhoferia* is a genus of early prehistoric bird closely related to Archaeopteryx. It lived in what is now Germany, during the Late Jurassic.... W. grandis	Geographically located in Bayern, Germany.

Pterosaurs

Pterosaur Pterosaur Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or Order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight.... s of the Solnhofen Formation
Taxa	Presence	Notes	Images
Genus: Germanodactylus Germanodactylus *Germanodactylus* is a genus of dsungaripteroidea pterodactyloidea pterosaur from Late Jurassic-age rocks of Germany, including the Solnhofen limestone.... G. cristatus
Genus: Pterodactylus Pterodactylus *Pterodactylus* is a genus of pterosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period . It was a carnivore and probably preyed upon fish and other small animals.... P. antiquus P. grandis P. kochi P. longicollum P. micronyx		The Solnhofen species "P." crassirostris, was given its own genus, Scaphognathus.
Genus: Rhamphorhynchus R. muensteri
Genus: Scaphognathus Scaphognathus *Scaphognathus* was a pterosaur that lived around Germany during the Late Jurassic. It had a wingspan of about 1 meter. At present it is known from only two specimens, both of which originated in the Kimmeridgian-age Solnhofen Limestone.... S. crassirostris	Only two specimens have been recovered from the formation. The first was found in Eichstatt, the second in Mulheim.	A Solnhofen genus erected in 1861 by J. A. Wagner when he recognized the rhamphorhynchoid nature of "Pterodactylus" crassirostris after the discovery of a specimen with a preserved tail. The Solnhofen Limestone is the only known source of Scaphognathus fossils. S. crassirostris was originally named P. crassirostris in 1831 by August Goldfuss who mistook the tailless specimen for a new Pterodactylus species.

Solnhofen limestone

Paleoenvironment and preservation

Fauna

Birds and other dinosaurs

Pterosaurs

See also

External links