Extraordinary Fossil Palm Frond Plate with Mass Mortality of Fish

Green River Geological Labs, Logan, Utah;

Acquired from above , 1999

ONE OF THE FINEST MASS MORTALITY PLATES TO BE FOUND TO DATE

The plate features a large and complete palm frond alongside 135 fossil fish, including: 21 Diplomystus dentalus, 2 Mioplosus labracoides, and 112 Knightia eocaena.

Spanning the states of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, the Green River Formation is one of the most important sites for finding fossils from the Eocene Epoch. Plant fossils at the site indicate that the climate was moist temperate or sub-tropical, as does the presence of fossilized crocodiles which can only survive in areas with consistently warm temperatures. A series of large inland lakes extended across the region and at the bottom of these lakes various plants and animals were buried and eventually fossilized. The lakes later dried up as the climate changed and many of the plants and animals living there went extinct.