意大利米兰大学Dawid A. Iurino团队发现科里·阿尔巴尼火山杂岩（意大利中部晚更新世）的化石羽毛保存在沸石中。2025年3月18日出版的《地质学》杂志发表了这项成果。

化石羽毛通常以碳质薄膜和印记的形式保存在湖泊和海洋沉积物中，或嵌入琥珀中，但很少矿化。研究组报告了保存在晚更新世科里·阿尔巴尼火山杂岩（意大利罗马）富含火山灰的火山碎屑沉积物中的狮鹫的矿化羽毛。羽毛是三维保存的，保留了组织超微结构，如黑素体和周围的羽毛皮层。

这些组织超微结构在纳米晶沸石中矿化，这是一种以前在化石软组织中没有报道过的保存方式。研究组提出，寄主岩石的沸石化促进了羽毛结构内纳米晶沸石的沉淀，这可能受局部pH条件（即胎体附近）和早期成岩过程中富硅铝流体的存在所控制。该研究表明，陆地火山环境有可能非常高保真地保存各种古代生物的软组织超微结构。

附：英文原文

Title: Fossil feathers from the Colli Albani volcanic complex (Late Pleistocene, Central Italy) preserved in zeolites

Author: Valentina Rossi, Tiffany Slater, Richard Unitt, Beatriz Carazo del Hoyo, Edoardo Terranova, Mario Gaeta, Maria E. McNamara, Raffaele Sardella, Dawid A. Iurino

Issue&Volume: 2025-03-18

Abstract: Fossil feathers are usually preserved as carbonaceous films and impressions in lacustrine and marine sediments, or embedded in amber, but rarely mineralized. We report mineralized plumage of a griffon vulture preserved in an ash-rich pyroclastic deposit from the Late Pleistocene Colli Albani volcanic complex (Rome, Italy). Feathers are preserved in three dimensions, with preservation of tissue ultrastructures such as melanosomes and the surrounding feather cortex. These tissue ultrastructures are mineralized in nanocrystalline zeolite, a mode of preservation not previously reported in fossil soft tissues. We propose that zeolitization of the host rock promoted the precipitation of nanocrystalline zeolite within feather structures, possibly controlled by local pH conditions (i.e., within the immediate vicinity of the carcass) and the presence of Si-Al-rich fluids during early diagenesis. Our study suggests that terrestrial volcanic settings have the potential for remarkably high fidelity preservation of soft tissue ultrastructure in diverse ancient organisms.

DOI: 10.1130/G52971.1

Source: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/doi/10.1130/G52971.1/653118/Fossil-feathers-from-the-Colli-Albani-volcanicredirectedFrom=fulltext