Researchers have discovered that something other than pyrite is causing fossils embedded in Germany's Posidonia Shale to shimmer.

A team of international scientists collected dozens of palm-sized or larger fossilized ammonites, bivalves, and crustaceans from the Early Jurassic site.

High-powered scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the roughly 183-million-year-old fossils.

The team found that pyrite, which was believed to be the special ingredient causing the fossils to glow, was not present in most of the fossils.

Microscopic clusters of pyrite crystals, called framboids, were present in the surrounding shale, but not on the fossils themselves.

Pyrite forms in anoxic environments where there's no oxygen present, whereas phosphate minerals like yellow calcite need oxygen to form.

The fossils were found in dark, black shales where an anoxic environment was expected.

Scientists collected palm-sized fossils of marine animals and found no pyrite in them.

High-powered scanning electron microscope revealed that phosphate minerals with yellow calcite caused the golden glow.

Researchers found yellow calcite & phosphate, not pyrite, give fossils in Posidonia Shale their golden glow. Burst of oxygen crucial for fossilization.

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