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Fire can reach incredibly high temperatures. Fossils are susceptible to these changes in temperature and can crack or even burn if the original material is still preserved, as is the case of fossilized wood (among others) 2/
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This is why we need more knowledge of #FossilConservation. Let me tell you about the 10 agents of deterioration at work during a disaster, fire being one of them... #MuseuNacional #LutoMuseuNacional
Long #Thread 1/https://twitter.com/TomHoltzPaleo/status/1036618663867162626 …
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When a fire occurs, the building is unstable and can collapse over the fossils. This is another agent of deterioration: physical forces. This agent is the most common one among fossils. Even the rattling in drawers destroys fossils 3/
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Fire also burns the labels of the fossils, bringing a third agent of deterioration: dissociation. If we don't know what that fossil is, we cannot link it to publications. In addition, fire will burn and melt the numbers painted on fossils, some of them historical 4/
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I cannot say how important dissociation is. Without data, we only have old bones/shells/logs/etc. Catalogs mean something if we can tie the fossils to them. Oh, and don't forget fire burning said catalogs or fieldbooks. Not everything is always digitized 5/
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All this happened without the fire department even arriving to the scene yet. Once they do, they bring the much needed water. Water is, I think you might have guessed it by now: an agent of deterioration. We need it badly to save the fossils, but it also harms them
#tradeoff 6/Show this thread -
Water can swell fossils and make them crack, it can dissolve adhesives or make them fail. Water also contributes to dissociation by destroying labels and catalogs 7/
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Water can also bring mold and other pests (another agent!). Mold destroys labels and any organic matter that fossils may still have. Pests also destroy labels and fossil jackets. Sometimes you cannot enter a place right after a fire, and that's when pests come 8/
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Fire produces soot, smoke and the release of contaminants (agent!) that may have been stable in walls or cabinets. These can accelerate the deterioration of fossils once they get exposed to them. And if it doesn't directly affect the fossils, labels or documentation may suffer 9/
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The next pair of agents work together: incorrect temperature and incorrect relative humidity. You can imagine how these would damage it destroy fossils: cracks, salts growing on fossils, mold (again). Some fossils that have pyrite may turn into powder after a while 10/
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Light is the only agent that doesn't affect the fossils right away, but may do so if they're later put in places where strong light reaches them. This happens often because the cabinets are gone and people have nothing else but the floor to put fossils on 11/
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And we're at the final agent: thieves and vandals. People aren't always nice. People loot. People destroy. We want to believe that tragedies bring the best in people, but unfortunately, that's not always the case 12/
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These 10 agents are affecting the
#MuseuNacional collections right now. We need to protect whatever's left, so more is not lost. I offer whatever help I can give. Please help however you can 13/endShow this thread
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I’d have a hard time thinking of a bio that would describe one as more uniquely and precisely qualified to speak on this. Thank you for my Tuesday education!pic.twitter.com/wCnkfENR7f
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Thank you for reading! I'm always happy to help
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I do know that the fossil itself may be a different silica form than the surrounding rock and will expand at different rates, powdering the fossil.
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The fossils are always different from their matrix, and also, they're heterogeneous, so different things may be happening in different areas of the specimen, or even at the microscopic level :)
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I was going to post on another ltweet that trilobites and brachiopods would be more likely to survive than more delicate specimens until I realized how susceptible limestone-based rocks could be to heat. :(
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Yes. And the combo of all these agents is worse. I really wish the cabinets + drawers helped retard the fire
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Don't forget the labels and registration numbers! Associated information is everything!
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They're in the thread, both physical and written/painted-on labels. And catalogs and fieldbooks. Dissociation is one of the agents I fear the most
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