AN EXCEPTIONALLY LARGE AND RARE LOTUS LILY PAD FROM THE GREEN 🔯RIVER FORMATION

Lily pads are an uncommon find in the Green River Formation. In addition, most lily pad discoveries at Fossil Lake measure between 4 and 8 inches in diameter. The c♐urrent example measures a remarkable 19 𝐆inches, making it one of the larger specimens known. The veins of the lily pad are remarkably clear, and the skeletal remains of fossilized fish can be seen both on the surface of the leaf, and in the surrounding matrix.

Today, Fossil Basin in southwestern Wyoming is a rugged and h🎀arsh mountain environment. 50 million years ago, however, it was a subtropical lake bursting with life and lush vegetation. At the end of the Late Cretaceous approximately 66 million years ago, the impact of the Chicxulub asteroid resulted in a mass extinction, famous for wiping out the dinosaurs. Sea levels plummeted and tectonic uplift resulted in the dramatic loss of biodiversity, causing the demise of an estimated 75% of all living species.

In the wake of this destruction, Earth's biota slowly began to renew itself in new and different forms. Sprouting from the ashes, flowering plants and trees bega🦹n to diversify, along with the animals that pollinated and fed on them. Mammals returned in vast numbers, taking over from the dinosaurs and reptiles that once ruled the Earth. Teleost fish also expanded their⭕ dominance in all marine environments, and life in all forms developed towards what would become the major families and orders of all animals living today.

Of all the freshwater lake systems formed during this perio♔d, the most remarkable to appear was the Green River Lake System. At its height, it comprised three lakes — Lake Uinta, Lake Gosiute, a♕nd Fossil Lake — and lasted an incredible 12 million years. Today, the Fossil Butte Member preserves the geological and paleontological history of Fossil Lake, and is a must visit for paleobotanists interested in fossil flora.

Extant lotuses are often esteemed for their delicate and alluring fragrance. Fossil lotuses would also have been quite aromatic, raising their body temperﷺature to rel🌼ease scent and thus attract pollinators. These pollinators, attracted to the increased heat and aroma coming from the lily pads, would have used them as places for rest as well as for mating.