A brittle star fossil from Solnhofen limestone.

The Solnhofen limestone is a Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte that preserves a rare assemblage of fossilized organisms, some of which, such as sea jellies, don't ordinarily fossilize at all. The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Ma (million years ago to  Ma that is from the end of the Triassic to the beginning A Lagerstätte ( German; literally place of storage; plural Lagerstätten) is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil FOSSIL is a standard protocol for allowing serial communication for Telecommunications programs under the DOS Operating system. Others, like the early bird Archaeopteryx are preserved in such detail that they are among the most famous and most beautiful fossils in the world. Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. Archaeopteryx, sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel ("original bird" or "first bird" is the earliest and most primitive Bird

The Solnhofen beds lie in the German state of Bavaria, halfway between Nuremberg and Munich. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. During the Late Jurassic, this area was an archipelago at the edge of the Tethys Sea. The Late Jurassic (or Malm) Epoch of the Jurassic Period is the unit of geologic time from 161 An archipelago (ɑrkəˈpɛləgoʊ is a chain or cluster of Islands The word archipelago literally means "chief Sea " from Italian The Tethys Ocean was a Mesozoic era Ocean that existed between the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia before the opening of the Indian This included placid lagoons that had limited access to the open sea and where salinity rose high enough that the resulting brine could not support life. Since the lowest water was devoid of oxygen, many ordinary scavengers were absent. Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the Any organism that fell, drifted, or was washed into the lagoons from the ocean or the land became buried in soft carbonate mud. In Chemistry, a carbonate is a salt or Ester of Carbonic acid. Thus, many delicate creatures avoided consumption by scavengers or being torn apart by currents. The wings of dragonflies, the imprints of stray feathers, and terrestrial plants that washed into the lagoons were all preserved. Anisoptera redirects here For the genus of trees see Anisoptera (tree. Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering or Plumage, on Birds They are considered the most complex integumentary structures The fossils are not numerous, but some of them are spectacular, and their range gives a comprehensive picture of a local Jurassic ecosystem. An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (

At times, the lagoons almost dried out, exposing sticky carbonate muds that trapped insects and even a few small dinosaurs. Over 600 species have been identified, including twenty-nine kinds of pterosaur ranging from the size of a sparrow to 1. For other meanings see Pterodactyl (disambiguation. Pterosaurs (ˈtɛrəsɔr from the Greek πτερόσαυρος pterosauros 2 m (4 ft) in length have been found.

The fine-grained texture of the mud silt forming the limestone from the Solnhofen area (which is composed mainly of the towns of Solnhofen and Eichstätt) is ideal for making lithographic plates, and extensive quarrying in the 19th century revealed many fossil finds, as commemorated in the name Archaeopteryx lithographica, all the specimens of which come from these deposits. Silt is Soil or rock derived Granular material of a Grain size between sand and clay Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 Solnhofen is a municipality in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Franconia in the Land of Bavaria in Solnhofen is a municipality in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Franconia in the Land of Bavaria in Eichstätt ( formerly also Eichstädt or Aichstädt) is a city in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the District Lithography is a method for Printing using a plate or stone with a completely smooth surface The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar

See also

• List of fossil sites (with link directory)
• List of types of limestone

External links

• University of California Berkeley offers a brief introduction.
• Another brief description.