RE: paleonet Fossil Color

["Andy Rindsberg" <arindsberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Message

Carl,

 

Brownish inarticulate brachiopods are pigmented with iron hydroxide (presumably goethite), a relatively stable compound. There are many Cambrian and Ordovician examples of brown pigmentation in lingulids and obolids -- it's not a rare phenomenon. Some have a solid color, others are banded concentrically.

 

John Harrington wrote in his wonderful work of geophilosophy, "To See a World", of cracking open a nodule to find a green leaf inside. It immediately began to curl, flake, and discolor. "Here was a Triassic salad, going to waste," he wrote. "So I ate it."

 

I forget the details, but Hoare wrote a couple of annotated bibliographies on color in fossils. They should pop right up on GeoRef.

 

Cheers,

Andy

 

Andrew K. Rindsberg

Geological Survey of Alabama

-----Original Message-----
From: paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk [mailto:paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Carl Mehling
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 1:26 PM
To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
Subject: paleonet Fossil Color

Color patterns are common in the invertebrate fossil record, but real color is extremely uncommon across the board. I know of the Clarkia leaves, some amber insects and the Messel beetles. There must be a few more examples. I turn to you all.

Thanks,
Carl

Carl Mehling
Fossil Amphibian, Reptile, and Bird Collections
Division of Paleontology
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West @79th Street
New York, NY  10024
(212) 769-5849
Fax: (212) 769-5842
cosm@amnh.org

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