During Burial
The mineralisation process began to affect the organisms soon after they had been buried. Organisms' cells rapidly decayed and collapsed, meaning that a flattened two dimensional outline of the three dimensional organisms is all that is preserved. Pyrite began to precipitate from seawater trapped within the sediment forming lenses of framboidal (raspberry-shaped under magnification) crystals.
Read more about this topic: Burgess Shale Type Preservation
Famous quotes containing the word burial:
“I heard the bell tolled on thy burial day,
I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away,
And, turning from my nursery window, drew
A long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu!”
—William Cowper (1731–1800)
“On the beach at night,
Stands a child with her father,
Watching the east, the autumn sky.
Up through the darkness,
While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses spreading,
Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)