Bone fossilization can be viewed as the process of recrystallization of biogenic apatite to carbonate fluorapatite (francolite) and during this process many trace elements can be incorporated into the fossil bones. When the bone exposed to these, the concentrations of rare-erath elements increase dramatically in a relatively short time and during the fossilization, hence the buried bones record fingerprints or signatures diagnostic of the burial environment. Based on these listed features, the bones that recrystallized in different depositional settings inherit different trace-element composition and thus variations in the trace-element signatures within a bonebed can be used to infer post-depositional transport and mixing of vertebrate assemblages and to unravel the accumulation histories of such mixed faunas.
Study of Late Cretaceous squamates from Iharkút
The Iharkút site is rich in cranial and dental remains of small to medium sized lizards…