Lagerstätten

Lagerstätten (singular Lagerstätte) are fossil-bearing sedimentary deposits that preserve organisms in extraordinary detail, including soft tissues, coloration, and delicate structures that are typically lost in ordinary fossilization. The term is German for storage place and was popularized in paleontology by Adolf Seilacher to describe sites with exceptional fossil preservation.

Such deposits arise when conditions rapidly bury organic remains in fine-grained sediments and limit decay and scavenging. Anoxic bottom waters, microbial mats, rapid mineralization (phosphate, silica, pyrite, carbon), and restricted disturbance combine to preserve fine anatomy and, in some cases, soft tissues and traces of behavior.

Lagerstätten are associated with different preservation styles. Burgess Shale-type preservation yields three-dimensional carbonaceous films or skeletal remains of soft-bodied organisms preserved in fine muds, while other sites provide detailed external morphology, impressions of integument, color patterns, or soft tissues.

Famous examples include Burgess Shale in British Columbia (Cambrian) with diverse soft-bodied arthropods; Chengjiang in China (Cambrian) with a similar fauna; Sirius Passet in Greenland; Solnhofen Limestone in Germany (Late Jurassic) with Archaeopteryx and feather impressions; and the Messel Pit in Germany (Eocene) with exquisitely preserved mammalian fossils. Orsten-type Lagerstätten, from younger rocks, preserve microscopic soft-bodied organisms through phosphate mineralization.

Lagerstätten fundamentally broaden understanding of ancient ecosystems, development, and behavior by revealing anatomical features not captured by more typical fossils. Ongoing discoveries and modern imaging continue to refine interpretations of evolutionary history.