Lagerstatte
is a German word meaning "resting place". It has
been recently co-opted by paleontologists to have a meaning
more like "universal graveyard". A largerstatt is
a spectacular rarity, with only a few dozen scattered about
the earth like gemstones. The deposits of Solnhofen, famous
for its primitive bird Archaeopteryx, is one such deposits
where much the life of the Jurassic at that time is preserved
in the lithographic limestone. Another preserving the Eocene
world of Germany is Messel, in which the panoply of life forms
has been preserved in an oil shale. Another more recent deposit
would be the tar pits of Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles, showing
us what life was like in the Pleistocene, just 10,000 years
ago. Oil shale deposits in Wyoming tell of the fantastic variety
of Fish of the Green River Eocene. The Burgess Shale deposits
of Canada show us what life was like at the beginning of an
explosive radiation of diversity over a half billion years
ago. The one that has been most in the news of late are the
Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous deposits of Liaoning Province
in China, home of the fantastic "feathered dinosaurs".
Taking
its rightful place with all of these is the sublithographic
limestone deposits of Sahel Alma, Hajoula and Haqel, Lebanon
of the Cenomanian Stage of the Middle Cretaceous (93-97 million
years ago). These deposits are most famous for their exquisitely-preserved
fish, but show a diversity of other well-preserved fossils
such as shrimp and lobsters. The deposits are indicative of
a warm and shallow sea that was made up of small basins only
a few hundred meters across. These deposits now rest some
270 meters below the current surface.Geologists currently
believe these basins had their origins at the intersection
of block fault systems. The Baensch Fossil Atlas lists over
70 genera of fish found within these deposits, most all of
which are known from unparalleled-quality specimens preserved
in remarkable detail.