Florissant Fossil Bed NP Colorado Color IMG 8542
by Greg Kluempers
Title
Florissant Fossil Bed NP Colorado Color IMG 8542
Artist
Greg Kluempers
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Florissant fossil Bed NP Colorado
The Florissant Fossil Bed National Monument is a national monument located in Teller County, Colorado. The location is famous for the abundant and exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils that are found in the mudstones and shales. Based on argon radiometric dating, the formation is Eocene (approximately 34 million years old ) in age and has been interpreted as a lake environment. The fossils have been preserved because of the interaction of the volcanic ash from the nearby Thirtynine Mile volcanic field with diatoms in the lake, causing an algal bloom. As the algae fell to the bottom of the lake, any plants or animals that had recently died were preserved by the algal mats.
Uploaded
February 23rd, 2014
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