Ancient pitch

Copepods are abundant, but they fossilize poorly. Their fossil record consists of Cretaceous and Miocene fossils. In this paper we describe abundant copepod fragments that were found in a single pitch clast from a glacial diamictite of late Carboniferous age (c. 303 Ma) from Oman. The geochemistry of the pitch suggests that the pitch came from an oilfield 100–300 km to the southwest, which is consistent with an ice flow direction from glacial striations. The pitch probably originated as an oil seep discharging into a subglacial lake. This occurrence lengthens the fossil record of copepods by 188 Ma. Read more: Selden, P A, Huys, R, Stephenson, M H, Heward, A P, and Taylor, P N. 2010. Crustaceans from a bitumen clast in Carboniferous glacial diamictite of Oman extend the fossil record of copepods. Nature Communications, 1, Article no. 50.