By Helier
Cheung BBC News
24 March
2019
Scientists
say they have discovered a "stunning" trove of thousands of fossils
on a river bank in China.
The
fossils are estimated to be about 518 million years old, and are particularly
unusual because the soft body tissue of many creatures, including their skin,
eyes, and internal organs, have been "exquisitely" well preserved.
Palaeontologists
have called the findings "mind-blowing" - especially because more
than half the fossils are previously undiscovered species.
The
fossils, known as the Qingjiang biota, were collected near Danshui river in
Hubei province.
More than
20,000 specimens were collected, and a total of 4,351 have been analysed so
far, including worms, jellyfish, sea anemones and algae.
They will
become a "very important source in the study of the early origins of
creatures", one of the fieldwork leaders, Prof Xingliang Zhang from
China's Northwest University, told the BBC.
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