Graptolites are an extinct group of marine animals
that lived in the seas from the Cambrian period until
the end Carboniferous period. The were extremely
successful and lived in
colonies - there were both benthic (permanently attached
to the sea-floor by a "root") and
pelagic (floating freely, or attached to seaweed) varieties.
Graptolite
are very common, particularly those which were deposited in mud rocks
and shales, as a result are often used as "index fossils"
- that is to say that rocks can be dated. Additionally,
The particular type of graptolite fossil
present in a rock can sometimes used by scientists to estimate the temperature or depth
of a region at the time of the Graptolite's lifetime.
Although Graptolite fossils
tend to be quite common, they are not always easy to see.
Even if seen, many casual observers mistake them for
fossil plants,
and even Carl Linnaeus (the Swedish botanist who was the principle founder
of modern taxonomy) regarded them as
"pictures resembling fossils rather than true fossils"
Finally, the presence of two distinct types of Grapolites in the rocks
of Europe
and North America, just like the two distinct types of
Trilobites
found in the very same rocks, has been regarded as evidence of an ancient ocean
(known as the "Iapetus Ocean") that once lay between the two continents.
The Iapetus Ocean is thought to have closed-up again when all the continents joined
together in the super-continent of Pangaea - and when a new ocean (the Atlantic Ocean), separating
Europe and North America,
did eventually appear, it did so along
a somewhat different line of separation.
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