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Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

View on map:38.918045°N 105.282612°W

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Several stumps of preserved Sequoia trapped in an ancient mudflow have been exposed by erosion here in front of the visitor center.  A thin shale strata was formed when later mudflows created a lake where entrapped insects, plants and seeds were extremely well preserved - the layer is now called the Florissant fossil bed.  

Description


The Pioneer House, showing how the original pioneers of the west lived

The Florissant Fossil Bed National Monument is a national monument located in Teller County, Colorado. The location is famous for the abundant and exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils that are found in the mudstones and shales. Based on argon radiometric dating, the formation is Eocene (approximately 34 million years old ) in age and has been interpreted as a lake environment. The fossils have been preserved because of the interaction of the volcanic ash from the nearby Thirtynine Mile Volcanic Field with diatoms in the lake, causing an algal bloom. As the algae fell to the bottom of the lake, any plants or animals that had recently died were preserved by the algal mats.

References

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