How storms led to the remarkable preservation of pterosaurs (IMAGE)
Caption
(A) Most of the time, pterosaurs stood little chance of becoming fossils. Decaying larger individuals sometimes left behind scattered bones that reached the lagoon floor, but smaller pterosaurs were usually lost without trace.
(B) Storms, however, created very different conditions. Powerful winds and waves dragged the bodies of small and young pterosaurs into deeper waters. At the same time, these storms stirred up salty water from the lagoon floor. This water contained almost no oxygen, and when it mixed with the surface waters, it triggered sudden die-offs of marine life. These toxic waters acted as a barrier to scavengers and decay, allowing pterosaur bodies to sink largely untouched.
The final step came when lime-rich mud, carried by the storm, rapidly buried the remains. This quick covering not only protected soft tissues from decay but also preserved fragments of larger pterosaurs that had been deposited earlier. Together, these rare conditions explain why fossils from Solnhofen are so well preserved.
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University of Leicester
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