3D model of a sandstone impression of a large flowering plant leaf (NHMW-GEO-2024/0188/10599)

<p>This is a leaf fossil preserved in sandstone from the Harz Mountains of northern Germany and is Late Cretaceous in age (app. 85 million years old).&nbsp;This species is called <i>Credneria denticulata</i>, an extinct member of the plane tree family (Platanaceae). Today, this family consists mostly of tall trees living in temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere.&nbsp;The preservation of this fossil is particularly interesting. It is very uncommon for delicate fossils, like leaves, to be preserved intact in coarse sandstone, since the processes that deposit sand can be quite destructive. Also, most plants are deposited flat on sediments, but this leaf has been preserved in three dimensions, being folded around a lobe of sand. For these reasons, the leaf was probably buried in a chaotic and rapid environment, possibly along an ancient coastline.</p><p>This object is part of the historical ‘Ettingshausen collection’, which is on permanent loan from the Institute of Biology, University of Graz.&nbsp;</p>