4" Detailed Fossil Leaf (Pos/Neg) - Green River Formation, Wyoming

Detailed Fossil Leaf (Pos/Neg) - Green River Formation, Wyoming #248228

This is a detailed fossil leaf (Rhus sp.?) from the Eocene aged, Green River Formation of Wyoming. Both the positive and negative split of this leaf are included. While this formation is best known for well-preserved fossil fish found in Wyoming, other sections of the formation contain very diverse flora and insect fauna.

This specimen comes with an acrylic display stand for each half. There are repaired cracks through each half where the rock broke during collection.

About Fossil Lake

50 million years ago, in the Eocene epoch, these fish thrived in Fossil Lake, which was fed by the Uinta and Rocky Mountain highlands. The anoxic conditions at the bottom of Fossil Lake slowed bacterial decomposition, prevented scavengers from disturbing corpses, and, most interestingly, suffocated creatures that ventured into the oxygen-starved aquatic layer. The result is a miraculous exhibition of Eocene biota: a subtropical aquatic community within sycamore forests, teeming with creatures such as freshwater stingrays, dog-sized horses, menacing alligators, early flying bats, and one of the first primates.

A view of one of the commercial quarries where fossils from the Green River Formation are collected.

A note on Green River leaf identifications. Over 60 described leaf bearing plants have been identified from this formation, many of which have very similar leaves. We have done our best to provide identifications based on the resources available to us, but we are not paleobotany experts and cannot guarantee that all will be 100% correct.