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North-Hueco-la-Zorra-from-South-Cerro-Blanco
View of Cerro Hueco la Zorra, which consists mostly of layers of sandstone and silstone rocks.
Flat pebbles
This picture shows three beds containing numerous intraclastic flat pebbles from upper Cambrian strata of the Notch Peak Formation, Utah. We find analogous flat-pebble conglomerates in lower Paleozoic strata from many different regions of the world, including China, North America, Australia, and Korea. In this and other similar cases, Paleozoic rocks record a global signal. Scale in cm.
Bothriolepis canadensis
Three specimens of a Devonian armored fish, fossilized together. What is preserved are the armored head and the fins of the fish, still articulated. The fish must have died together, are found in close proximity, and are exceptionally well preserved. Slab (about 20 cm in size) on display at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
Slope of Mount Pilatus
The steep sides of Mount Pilatus, south of Lucerne, are seen on the left. The rocks are mostly Cretaceous sediments.
Fossil Sponge
A fossil sponge from the reef region at the north end of Gosau Lake. The sponge is the darker round object (near the middle of the picture) having a small light center and a darker filled-in crack cutting across it.
Sauropod footprints
Detail of two sauropod dinosaur footprints. Being quadrupedal, this dinosaur left four impressions, corresponding to two hands and two feet. In the photo, the left footprint corresponds to one hand (front leg), and the right to one foot (rear leg). When walking, the quadrupedal dinosaur first laid down the hand and then the foot, whose footprint partly overlapped with the footprint left by the hand.
Chelonia
Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas). Adults individuals measure up to 1.5 meters in length and weigh more than 230 kg. This is the only herbivorous species among sea turtles and feeds on seagrasses and algae. Due to this diet, its fat reserves are green, explaining the reason for its name.
Panorama-Zamaca
General view of the Zamaca area, south of the town of Ocucaje, Peru. This arid region is of great geological interest because it records several marine regressions and transgressions during which the layers that are now exposed in the desert were deposited.
Great Unconformity
In many places around the world (and through most of the North American continent) Paleozoic rocks have a sharp discontinuity at their base. This widespread erosional surface, called “the Great Unconformity,” often separates layered sedimentary rocks from underlying metamorphic and igneous rocks (the so called “crystalline basement”). In this photo taken near Manitou Springs, CO, USA, the Great Unconformity is marked by the dashed line and overlain by the Cambrian Sawatch Quartzite. Hammer (encircled) for scale.
Cardipeltis bryanti
This is a specimen (several cm in size) of a fossil jawless fish, from the Devonian of Wyoming, on display at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. Several groups of fish (like the ostracoderms, to which this fish belongs) appear suddenly in the rock record, without many intermediates.
Folded Sediments of Mount Pilatus
View to the west (left) near the top of Mount Pilatus, south of Lucerne. Note the very contorted layers. The mountain was overthrust about 50 km from the south (left of picture).