The 50 million year old hungry caterpillar!

Large-scale Synchrotron Rapid Scanning X-ray Fluorescence (SRS-XRF) elemental mapping and X-ray absorption spectroscopy are applied here to fossil leaf material from the 50 Mya Green River Formation (USA) in order to improve our understanding of the chemistry of fossilized plant remains. SRS-XRF of fossilized animals has previously shown that bioaccumulated trace metals and sulfur compounds may be preserved in their original distributions and these elements can also act as biomarkers for specific biosynthetic pathways. Similar spatially resolved chemical data for fossilized plants is sparsely represented in the literature despite the multitude of other chemical studies performed. Here, synchrotron data from multiple specimens consistently show that fossil leaves possess chemical inventories consisting of organometallic and organosulfur compounds that: (1) map discretely within the fossils, (2) resolve fine scale biological structures, and (3) are distinct from embedding sedimentary matrices. Additionally, the chemical distributions in fossil leaves are directly comparable to those of extant leaves. This evidence strongly suggests that a significant fraction of the chemical inventory of the examined fossil leaf material is derived from the living organisms and that original bioaccumulated elements have been preserved in situ for 50 million years. Chemical information of this kind has so far been unknown for fossilized plants and could for the first time allow the metallome of extinct flora to be studied.

The Feather

Image taken by Dr. Phil Manning.

This single feather was named Archaeopteryx in 1860. We have chemically imaged this feather at a synchrotron lightsouce to help illuminate the elemental inventory of this fossil.  While this is certainly an icon of evolution, and stunningly preserved, it is also simply beautiful.

Image produced by Dr. Russell Garwood (University of Manchester)

Eophrynus pretvicii - This 312 million year old spiny creature is a member of an extinct group of arachnids called the trigonotarbids, closely related to the spiders. Because of fossils like this, studied through X-ray microtomography reconstruction, we know a lot about the biology of this group whose members were the first predators on land, despite the fact they went extinct over 250 million years ago. 

Bone and feather

This iconic fossil, mapped using synchrotron-based imaging at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, marks a major step in the evolution of modern birds. If all you could see was phosphorus and you happened to have this Archaeopteryx fossil on your lap...this is what you might see. Preserved for over 150 million years this life-defining element jumps from the bones of this early bird, but note the delicate 'ghost' of feathers, also preserved in phosphorus. When measured, the levels of this element were comparable to that in modern feathers. The element was emplaced by biological processes over 150 million years ago and have remained in place all this time. This image was generated from three scans by Dr Phil Manning.

Confuciusornis sanctus is the first beaked bird from the Lower Cretaceous of China. This Synchrotron Rapid Scanning X-Ray Fluorescence (SRS-XRF) image was scanned at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (California).  The colours relate to the distribution of three elements and their concentrations: Green is zinc, blue calcium, and red copper. The image was created from SRS-XRF data by Dr Roy Wogelius (University of Manchester) and published in the journal Science (2011).