30,000-Year-Old Vulture Fossil Reveals Unique Soft Tissue Preservation in Volcanic Ash
Researchers discovered that volcanic ash transformed into zeolite, preserving the microscopic details of feathers and challenging assumptions about fossilization in volcanic environments.
- The 30,000-year-old vulture fossil, found in Italy, is the first known instance of soft tissue preserved in volcanic rock through mineralization.
- Volcanic ash transformed into zeolite, a mineral that replicated the feathers' microscopic structures, including pigment organelles called melanosomes.
- The fossil, originally unearthed in 1889, was preserved in a low-temperature pyroclastic deposit, overturning the belief that volcanic environments destroy soft tissues.
- This discovery broadens the range of geological settings paleontologists might explore for exceptionally preserved fossils, including volcanic deposits.
- The preserved melanosomes may allow scientists to reconstruct the vulture's original feather coloration, offering insights into ancient biology.
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