Mineral composition of host sediments influences the fossilization of soft tissues

Cambrian Lagerstätten host rocks are frequently composed of kaolinite and chlorite in varying amounts; accordingly, our goal was to study the preservation potential of crustaceans in these two clays. We conducted long-term experiments (12–18 months, the longest duration of actualistic taphonomy experiments from published literature) on the decay of Artemia salina in these clay sediments. The degree of preservation, transformed mineralogical composition of the sediments, and the elemental composition of the nauplial remains were examined. We demonstrate that the kaolinite and chlorite sediment enhanced the preservation (in the kaolinite the effect was considerably higher than in the chlorite) compared with the sediment-free control. pH inside the sediments dropped to 6.5–7.1 and was even lower (