| Research
- SOLNHOFEN Germany (Project
listed June 2006.) |
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The
Solnhofen rocks are Jurassic because they are found in
the Jura mountains of Germany. The word Jurassic when
first invented had nothing to do with dinosaurs, evolution
or millions of years - only with their location in Jura.
Since them the rule of thumb has been any rock with similar
fossil content is called Jurassic. |
The
Solnhofen rocks are fine grained shaley limestones with
some thicker beds of lime stone. Many quarries are found
in this region which has been worked for centuries.
John Mackay (right) is shown starting the collection.
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John
Mackay (left) with great fossil find of soft bodied jelly
fish like creature which needs further research. A significant
number of fossil Jelly fish have been found in the region
which are great evidence of rapid deposition, since jellies
have no hard parts and in todays world they melt quickly
out of water. |
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| Fine
bedding is very evident in this section.
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Each
set of fine layers unfolds like the pages of a book and
some are even as thin as paper. |
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More
of the beautiful floating crinoids prettily coloured
by iron. Crinoids today are found of the coast of Australia
and are attached by stems to the ocean floor.
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A
beautiful Museum specimen of a Dragonfly fossil found
buried with floating crinoids. The museum at Solnhofen
is really worth a visit and staff we encountered are friendly
and cooperative. Solnhofen is a classic example of a mixed
environment of fossils with birds, lizards, land plants,
fish, shells, reptiles, sharks, deep sea and shallow water
creatures all rapidly buried. |
| A
cycad leaf, easy to recognize as John Mackay still has
cycads growing in his back yard in Australia. No help
for evolution here. It also adds to the picture of catastrophic
deposition as the water had to collect these from off
the plants which are not noted for dropping their leaves.-
and we are back to flood conditions. |
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One
reason for the fame of Solnhofen is the magnificent
tiles that have been sent around the world since the
days of the Romans. The beautiful dendrites which look
like magnificent ferns are really pseudo fossils made
by chemicals such as iron and manganese leaking in through
tiny cracks and precipitating in these plant like dendrites.
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| Solnhofen
Museum specimen 1 Archaeopteryx (above) showing little
evidence of wing feathers. |
Solnhofen
Museum specimen 2 Archaeopteryx (right) showing little
evidence of wing feathers.
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