All articles tagged with #goethite
In New South Wales, researchers uncover exceptionally preserved fossils embedded in ferricrete goethite, revealing a Miocene rainforest with fine details like feathers and insect organs and showing iron minerals can preserve soft tissues, potentially guiding future searches for iron-based fossil deposits worldwide.
An 11–16 million-year-old ferricrete deposit at McGraths Flat in New South Wales preserves exceptionally detailed terrestrial fossils in goethite, challenging the notion that such exceptional preservation only occurs in shale or sandstone and offering a new pathway to locate iron-based fossil beds.
A study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis has found that the common mineral goethite tends to lock away trace metals in soils over time, making them essentially unavailable for consumption or exposure. The study suggests that up to 50% of trace metals in soils and urban environments may be bound to mineral grains, impacting their availability as essential nutrients for plants and animals. This finding could help scientists better predict how contaminants move through the environment and understand the impact on nutrient availability in farm and garden soils.