The undisputed king of the plant fossils in the Green River Shale in the Severns Fossil Quarry in Kemmerer, Wyoming are the palm fronds. This was the best example we found during our digging. Figure 1 shows the entire sample. It was a miracle that this sample made it back. We shipped it UPS from Utah to Massachusetts. This sample is so thin, and so fragile that we were sure it would be shattered. Nicely done Brown! Figure 2 shows a detail on how one of the fronds actually was lifted from the mud after making an imprint, turned and bent, and then pressed down a second time! Figure 3 shows a detail of the leaf structure. Figure 4 is a fish coprolite (fish droppings). These actually appear in quite a few samples. This one was the best!
Return to Trees to view a high resolution image of these palm fronds.
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