Mazon Creek fossil beds

Mazon Creek fossil beds
Stratigraphic range: ~309–307 Ma[1]
Mazon Creek Fossil Beds
Mazon Creek fossil beds is located in Illinois
Mazon Creek fossil beds
Mazon Creek fossil beds is located in the United States
Mazon Creek fossil beds
Nearest cityBenson Road, Morris, Illinois
NRHP reference No.97001272
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 25, 1997[2]
Designated NHLSeptember 25, 1997[3]

The Mazon Creek fossil beds are a conservation lagerstätte found near Morris, in Grundy County, Illinois. The fossils are preserved in ironstone concretions, formed approximately 309 million years ago in the mid-Pennsylvanian epoch of the Carboniferous period. These concretions frequently preserve both hard and soft tissues of animal and plant materials, as well as many soft-bodied organisms that do not normally fossilize. The quality, quantity and diversity of fossils in the area, known since the mid-nineteenth century, make the Mazon Creek lagerstätte important to paleontologists attempting to reconstruct the paleoecology of the sites.[4] The locality was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997.[3][5]

  1. ^ McCoy VE, Asael D, Planavsky N. Benthic iron cycling in a high-oxygen environment: Implications for interpreting the Archean sedimentary iron isotope record. Geobiology. 2017;15:619–627. https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12247
  2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  3. ^ a b "Mazon Creek Fossil Beds". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 3, 2008. Retrieved October 11, 2007.
  4. ^ Illinois State Museum-Mazon Creek Fossil Exhibit
  5. ^ Joanne Klussendorf (March 30, 1995), National Historic Landmark Nomination: Mazon Creek Fossil Beds (pdf), National Park Service. Accompanying photos, from 1912 and 1991. (497 KB)