Taxon-specific redox conditions control fossilisation pathways

Abstract

Abstract The preservation of fossils in the rock record depends on complex redox processes. Redox conditions around different decaying organisms have rarely been monitored in the context of experimental taphonomy. Here, microsensors were used to measure redox changes around decomposing carcasses of various taxa, including shrimp, snail, starfish, and planarian. Our results show that different decaying taxa lead to various post-mortem environmental redox conditions. Large carcasses tend to reach reducing conditions more rapidly than smaller ones. However, size does not explain all observed patterns, as environmental redox conditions are also influenced by the nature of the organic material. For instance, taxa with higher proteins-to-lipids and (proteins + carbohydrates)-to-lipids ratios tend to achieve reducing conditions more rapidly than others. The generation of distinct redox environments around different taxa originally put under the same original environmental conditions suggests that various fossilisation patterns of macrofossils and molecules can co-occur within a single sedimentary layer.