Map Graph

Mazon Creek fossil beds

Conservation lagerstätte in Illinois on the National Register of Historic Places

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. The locality was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997.

Read article
Top Questions
AI generated

List the top facts about Mazon Creek fossil beds

Summarize this article

What is the single most intriguing fact about Mazon Creek fossil beds?

Are there any controversies surrounding Mazon Creek fossil beds?

More questions