PL084 - SPECTACULAR LARGE FOSSIL SLAB WITH EOCENE FEATHER AND ASSOCIATED LEAF FOSSILS FROM THE GREEN RIVER FORMATION

Product Description

ITEM # 

PL084

ID

Bird Feather, Platanus wyomingensis, Lygodium kaulfussil,
Zelcove nervosa, Salis xockerell.

FOUND

Green River Formation Uintah Co., Utah, USA

AGE

MIDDLE EOCENE:  48.6 - 37.2 million years ago

SIZE

12" x 9" x 1' thick overall, leaf 3.5" not including stem

CONDITION

NO REPAIR OR RESTORATION, PIGMENT ON ALL FOSSILS
IS NATURAL AND NOT COLORED, AS IS COMMON.

NOTE

STUNNING SHOWPIECE - LARGER THAN TYPICAL LEAF
FOSSILS WITH 48 MILLION YEAR BIRD FEATHER!

INCLUDES STAND - Actual Item - One Only

Comes with a certificate of authenticity / information sheet

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PLANT FOSSILS

From the famous Green River Formation in Utah, this is a SPECTACULAR fossil slab of a "slice" of Middle Eocene life of the region.  In perfect preservation is a 3-lobed prehistoric Sycamore leaf of the species  Platanus wyomingensis.  To the lower right is a leaf from a Climbing Tree Fern, Lygodium kaulfussii.  The large, long leaf near the top is a Willow Leaf, Salix cockerell.  Scattered about are fossil leaves of the Keaki Tree, Zelcova nervosa as well as other various leaves and tree stem fossils.  

What is most special about this piece, aside from the STUNNING Sycamore leaf fossil, is the presence of a large, damaged bird feather in the upper right region.  To see such a dense array of a variety of leaf and plant fossils in association with a BIRD FOSSIL makes this an exceptionally impressive piece for display and study.  Even the back side features of a number of plant fossils of incomplete preparation.

The slab is very large and sawn for a truly fantastic presentation.  Where many slab-type fossils are artificially enhanced with paint and stain, this remarkable specimen is 100% ORIGINAL WITH NO ARTIFICIAL PIGMENTS and only a clear sealer applied to the main fossils.   The variations in the pigment on the leaves attests to their natural origin.  Artificially colored leaf fossils from this region are most often a solid, non-varying hue.  

One of the most important fossil sites for understanding the Eocene is found at Green River, located in western Colorado, eastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming in the United States.  During the Eocene, this region was located at much the same latitude it is today, though global climate was more equable.  Therefore, the climate in which the organisms lived differs somewhat from that of the present-day western United States.  The fossils, especially plants, found at this site indicate that the climate was moist temperate or sub-tropical, with temperatures ranging from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius.  In addition to the plants, another piece of evidence suggesting that the climate was sub-tropical was the presence of fossilized crocodiles.  Crocodiles can only survive in areas with a constant, warm temperature. 

If you were able to visit the Green River locality during the Eocene, you would see palms, cat-tails, sycamores, and other familiar plants from North America, but you would also see some that are today more common in, or restricted to, eastern Asia.  A series of large inland lakes extended across the region, and it is in the bottoms of these lakes that various plants and animals were buried and fossilized.  These lakes later dried up as the local climate changed, and many of the plants and animals living there became extinct.