Researchers at the University of Kansas published a new study in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. IN
Geological formation nearAix-en-Provence, France, is known as one of the world's premier treasure troves of fossil species. Since the late 1700s, scientists have found amazingly well-preserved fossilized plants and animals there.
The Aix-en-Provence Formation is particularly famous for itsfossilized terrestrial arthropods from the Oligocene period, which was approximately 23-34 million years ago. Because arthropods are animals with an exoskeleton, they rarely fossilize, and their abundance in Aix-en-Provence has surprised scientists for years.
When the authors of the study by pure chanceput spider samples under a fluorescent microscope, they recorded an unusual glow. Scientists became interested in the chemical composition of these fossils. They turned out to contain a black polymer composed of carbon and sulfur, which looks like bitumen under a microscope. The researchers also noted thousands of microalgae that cover and surround the fossils themselves.
The authors of the work suggested that the substance, whichproduce these diatom microalgae, protected spiders from oxygen and contributed to their sulfurization. This chemical process explains the persistence of fossils over millions of years.
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