Lagerstätten & Biota

Lagerstätten are fossil beds that contain particularly well preserved fossils.
Lagerstätte	Period	Location	Comments
Proterozoic
Doushantuo Lagerstätte	Neoproterozoic, Vendian	South China	phosphatized microbial pseudomorphs [1]: algal thalli, acritarchs, and globular microfossils interpreted as animal embryos [2] (peripatus)
Ancient Stromatolite Reefs		Northern Canada possesses some of the best preserved examples of Proterozoic reefs and other carbonates anywhere in the world. .[Precambrian pinnacle reef, NWT ; Steep Rock Stromatolites]
Ediacara Biota, Ediacara, Australia		Ediacara Hills (SA); White Sea (Russia); Mistaken Point Formation (Nfld, Canada); Charnwood Forest, UK; South America, Namibia, South China
Cambrian Lagerstätten
Sirius Passet Formation	Early Cambrian, 515-520 Ma	Greenland	oldest of major Cambrian lagerstätten (peripatus)
Chengjiang Lagerstatte, Chengjiang	Lower Cambrian, 515 to 520 Ma	Yunnan Province, China: Qiongzhusi Formation	soft-tissue fossils of algae, medusiform metazoans, chondrophorines, sponges, chancelloriids, ctenophores, cnidarians, nematomorphs, priapulid worms, hyoliths, possible ectoprocts, inarticulate brachiopods, annelid-like animals, anomalocharidids, onychophorans, arthropods, occassional trilobites, echinoderms, ‘hemichordates’ and probable early chordates
Burgess Shale	Middle Cambrian, 505 Ma	BC, Canada
Wheeler Shale	Middle Cambrian	Utah, USA: House Range	University of California, Berkeley, web page
Andrarum Limestone	Middle Cambrian	Sweden
'Orsten'	Late Cambrian	Sweden
Ordovician
Beecher’s Bed	Early Ordovician	Utica, NY state, USA
Soom Shale	Late Ordovician	Cape Province, South Africa	[1] Soom Shale, South Africa
Silurian
Much Wenlock Limestone	Early Silurian	Wales	600 species of well-preserved invertebrates: crinoids, corals, brachiopods, trilobites, algae and bryozoans
Ludford Lane Bonebed	Early Silurian	Shropshire, Welsh Borderlands	oldest known terrestrial ecosystem : vascular plants, centipedes, kampecarid myriapods, arthropleurid, trigonotarbid, arthropod fragments
Fiddler’s Green Formation	Early Silurian	NY state, USA	eurypterid beds
Waukesha [1]	Early Silurian Llandovery-Wenlock	Wisconsin, USA	arthropods and conodonts [1]
Lesmahagow	Middle Silurian	Scotland	arthropods and fish
Devonian
Rhynie Chert	Early Devonian	Scotland	hot spring deposits
Hunsrück Shale(Hunsrückschiefer)	Early Devonian (Late Pragian to Early Esmian)	Rhine and Moselle Valleys,
Gilboa	Middle Devonian	NY state, USA	spiders and pseudoscorpions
Escuminac Bay	Late Devonian (Early Frasnian)	Eastern Canada	anaspids, placoderms, and other fishes including Eusthenopteron
Canowindra	Late Devonian	NSW, Australia	fish
Cleveland Shale	Late Devonian (Fammenian), 360 Ma	Ohio, USA	vertebrate sharks
Gogo Formation	Upper Devonian (Frasnian), 350 Ma	The Kimberley, NW Australia	placoderm fish
Carboniferous
East Kirkton	Early Carboniferous	Scotland	hot spring deposits; plants; arthropods (scorpions); amphibians and reptiles
Scottish ‘Shrimp Beds’	Early Carboniferous	Scotland	crustaceans, conodont animals, tomopterid worms, fish
Loch Humphrey Burn	Early Carboniferous	Southern Scotland	terrestrial : several successive plant bearing horizons within a volcanic terrain
Mazon Creek	Late Carboniferous	Illinois, USA	deltaic and near-shore marine
Karoo	Late Carboniferous to Triassic	Southern Africa	rich mammal-like reptile fauna from the Beaufort Sandstone
Permian
Wellington Shale	Early Permian	Kansas, USA	insects
Triassic
Gres à Voltzia	Triassic	France	deltaic deposits; terrestrial plants, insects, plus aquatic crustaceans and fish
Jurassic
Posidonia Shale	Early Jurassic	Germany
Posidonienschiefer, Holzmaden	Early Jurassic	Germany	fossil reptiles - noteably ichthyosaurs, crustaceans, cephalopods
Karatau	Jurassic	South Kazakhstan	insects, spiders, crocodiles, salamander, lizard, fish, pterosaurs, plants
Christian Malford	Middle Jurassic	England	squids
Stonefield Slates	Middle Jurassic	Oxfordshire, England	small mammal jaws and teeth
La Voulte-sur-Rhône	Middle Jurassic (Lower Callovian) ~ 160 Ma	Ardèche, France	allochthonous benthic and nektobenthic, and in situ bivalve
Purbeck Beds	Late Jurassic	England	insect fauna including dragonflies, locusts, grasshoppers, butterflies, ants and aphids
Morrison Formation	Late Jurassic	Wyoming and Colorado, USA
Solnhofen Limestone	Late Jurassic(Lower Titonian)	Germany	fine-grained lagoonal sediments; most famous for the Archeopteryx and Compsognathus fossils
Cretaceous
Santana Formation	Cretaceous	Brazil	fossil fish and pterosaurs
Sierra de Montsech	Cretaceous	Spain	fossil spiders, insects, crustaceans and vertebrates
Pierre Shale	Cretaceous (Campanian)	North Dakota, USA	arthropods, vertebrates, including mosasaurs
Hajoula Limestone	Cretaceous	Lebanon	fossil arthropods and fish
Liaoning Lagerstätte, Yixian Formation	Cretaceous (Barremian?), 120-150 Ma	Liaoning Province, China: Yixian Formation	true birds, dinosaurs, ‘feathered dinosaurs’
Las Hoyas	Lower Cretaceous (Barremian), 121-127 Ma	Cuenca, Spain	rich terrestrial and freshwater assemblage of invertebrate and vertebrate trace fossils, early angiosperms, ferns, cycads, conifers, insects, birds, fish, crocodiles, a dinosaur, amphibians and lizards
Tlayúa	Early Cretaceous, 100 Ma	Mexico	coral reef : fishes, foraminifera, sponges, gorgonids, bivalves, gastropods, belemnites, ammonites, echinoderms, crinoids, annelids, arthropods, arachnid, anispoterus, turtles, pleurosaurs, sphenodonts, lizards, crocodiles and pterosaurs
Eocene
Green River Formation	Eocene	Wyoming, USA	lacustrine fossil fish and other vertebrates
Monte Bolca	Eocene, 52 Ma	Italy	tropical marine lagoon: fishes, plants, insects
Princeton Chert	Middle Eocene, 49 mya	BC, Canada	permineralised flora
Grübe Messel Shale	Eocene	Germany	lacustrine fossil plants, vertebrates and insects
Oligocene
Florissant formation	Late Oligocene - Early Eocene	Colorado, USA	trees, plants, insects
Riversleigh Fossil Sites	Late Oligocene (25ma) to Middle Miocene (10ma) to present	Queensland, Australia	mostly vertebrates, with a few snails and insects
Pliocene/ Pleistocene
Lake Turkana	Pliocene/ Pleistocene, 4-0 Ma	Lake Turkana Basin, Kenya, East Africa	Australopithecus and Kenyanthropus, and Homo

Location
Country	Lagerstätten/Biota	Period
Africa	Namibia Soom Shale Karoo System Lake Turkana, Kenya	Proterozoic (Vendian) Late Ordovician Late Carboniferous to Triassic Pliocene/ Pleistocene, 4-0 Ma
Brazil	Santana Formation	Cretaceous
Australia	Ediacara Hills Biota, Ediacara, Australia Gogo Formation Canowindra	Proterozoic (Vendian) Upper Devonian (Frasnian), 350 Ma Late Devonian
Canada	Ancient Stromatolite Reefs Mistaken Point Formation, Nfld. Burgess Shale Escuminac Bay	Proterozoic Proterozoic (Vendian) Middle Cambrian, ~505 Ma Late Devonian (Early Frasnian)
China	Doushantuo Formation Chengjiang Lagerstätte Jehol Group Yixian Formation (Liaoning)	Proterozoic (Vendian) Early Cambrian, 515-520 Ma Early Cretaceous Cretaceous (Barremian?)
England	Charnwood Forest Vendian Biota Christian Malford Stonefield Slates Purbeck Beds	Proterozoic (Vendian) Middle Jurassic Middle Jurassic Late Jurassic
France	Gres à Voltzia La Voulte-sur-Rhône	Triassic Middle Jurassic (Lower Callovian) ~ 160 Ma
Germany	Hunsrück Shale (Hunsrückschiefer) Posidonia Shale Holzmaden Solnhofen Limestone Grübe Messel Shale	Early Devonian (Late Pragian to Early Esmian) Early Jurassic Early Jurassic Late Jurassic (Lower Titonian) Eocene
Greenland	Sirius Passet Formation	Early Cambrian, 515-520 Ma
Italy	Monte Bolca (Mt. Bolca): Musei della Lessinia web page	Eocene
Kazakhstan	Karatau	Jurassic
Lebanon	Hajoula Limestone	Cretaceous
Mexico	Tlayúa	Early Cretaceous, 100 Ma
Russia	Vendian Biota, (White Sea)	Proterozoic (Vendian)
Scotland	Lesmahagow Rhynie Chert East Kirkton Scottish ‘Shrimp Beds’ Loch Humphrey Burn	Middle Silurian Early Devonian Early Carboniferous Early Carboniferous Early Carboniferous
South America	Vendian Biota	Proterozoic (Vendian)
Spain	Sierra de Montsech Las Hoyas	Cretaceous Lower Cretaceous (Barremian), 121-127 Ma
Sweden	Andrarum Limestone 'Orsten' Beds	Middle Cambrian Late Cambrian
USA	Wheeler Shale ‘Beecher’s Bed’ Fiddler’s Green Formation Waukesha Gilboa Cleveland Shale Mazon Creek Wellington Shale Morrison Formation Pierre Shale Green River Formation	Middle Cambrian Early Ordovician Early Silurian, 425 Ma Early Silurian Middle Devonian Late Devonian (Fammenian) Late Carboniferous Early Permian Late Jurassic Cretaceous (Campanian) Eocene
Wales	Much Wenlock Limestone Formation Ludford Bonebeds	Early Silurian Early Silurian

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