Preservation of Gar Scales To Explore The Depositional Settings of Late Cretaceous Paleoecosystems

The Late Cretaceous was a period of ecosystem instability that eventually led to a mass extinction event. Microvertebrate fossil assemblages preserve details about these ecosystems. One of the most common animals preserved is gar fish scales. We can use how these fossils are preserved to reconstruct the depositional setting of these assemblages. Here, we examine gar scales to determine preservational conditions at two different Late Cretaceous sites.We examined the histology and the abrasion of these fossils to describe and quantify preservation. Knowledge of the depositional setting provides insights into modern-day biodiversity and the rate of the current mass extinction.