When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 atomic number 58 the ash tree chop-chop covered the city of Pompeii and other nearby villages in over 4 cadence ( 13 base ) of ash tree . The damage was so extensive the website was misplace for nearly 1500 years . Because of the ironical condition because of the ash and pumice ,   archeologist   get wind that Pompeii was really preserve remarkably well . A similar eruption is accredit with give China part of their extensive ingathering of beautifully - preserved dinosaur fossils .   The discipline follow from Baoyu Jiang from Nanjing University and was published in the journalNature Communications .

China is home to many beautiful early fossils , but one particular country in the Liaoning state has a fossil site of Early Cretaceous specimens that are fantastically well preserved , thanks to a volcano . The internet site , calledJehol Biota , is jam - packed with diversity . There are dinosaurs , mammalian , fish , louse , industrial plant , and much more with many effect from skin , hair , and feathers still in tactfulness .

geological sampling from Jehol Biota revealed a layer ofincredibly colored sediment , consistent with what would have appeared following a volcanic eructation . It appears that the fabulously fine ash rapidly descended on the orbit along with deadly red-hot gas , killing all of the brute in its itinerary , just like what happened in Pompeii . If the warmth was not enough to kill them , the over want of breathable air did . As the dust settled , it sealed in the organism and protected it from the elements ; the idealistic surroundings for fossilization .

Fourteen specimen from five dissimilar locations were take for closer inspection . Under the microscope , Jiang et al . were capable to find char marks on plants . Bones showed obvious trauma triggered by extensive heat and bird bones that are typically vacuous were packed with mineral dust , also signal pic to volcanic body process . The dust did n’t just affect the organisms on land , but the ash actually mixed into lake water , save the nautical animation as well .

Because of the ample variety present in the Jehol Biota fogey site , it had been predicted that a set event caused so many animals die in a very short amount of clip . It had been theorize that volcanic natural process could have played a part in it , but there had not been any lineal evidence of such an event until these outcome .