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288
pages,
softcover
210
x 148 mm page size
301
colour llustrations
ISBN:
978-1-84076-088-0
Price £24.95
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John Nudds
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University
of Manchester, UK.
Paul Selden
Department of Palaeontology, the Natural History Museum, London,
UK.
Most major recent advances
in understanding the history of life on Earth have been through
the study of exceptionally well preserved biotas (Fossil-Lagerstätten).
These are windows on the history of life on Earth and can provide
a fairly complete picture of the evolution of ecosystems through
time. This book follows the success of Evolution of Fossil Ecosystems
by the same authors which covered Fossil-Lagerstätten around the
world. The success of the first book prompted this new book which
draws on four localities from the original book and adds another
ten, all located in North America.
Following an introduction to Fossil-Lagerstätten, each chapter deals
with a single fossil locality. Each chapter contains a brief introduction
placing the Lagerstätte in an evolutionary context; there then follows
a history of study of the locality; the background sedimentology,
stratigraphy and palaeoenvironment; a description of the biota;
discussion of the palaeoecology, and a comparison with other Lagerstätten
of a similar age and/or environment. At the end of the book is an
Appendix listing museums in which to see exhibitions of fossils
from each locality and suggestions for visiting the sites.
Contents: Introduction, 1. The Gunflint Chert, 2. Mistaken
Point, 3. Burgess Shale, 4. Beecher’s Triolbite Bed, 5. The Bertie
Waterlime, 6. Gilboa, 7. Mazon Creek, 8. The Chinle Group, 9. The
Morrison Formation, 10. The Hell Creek Formation, 11. The Green
River Formation, 12. Florissant, 13. Dominican Amber, 14. Rancho
La Brea, Appendix. Museums and Site Visits. Index.
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