Until Now
BiologyGeology

East Kirkton Quarry

A Scottish hot-spring deposit yields the tetrapods that were supposed to be missing.

When
Known to
± 3 million years
Era
Carboniferous, Paleozoic

The East Kirkton limestone in West Lothian, around 345 million years old, preserves an unusual terrestrial ecosystem around volcanic hot springs, including early tetrapods, harvestmen, scorpions and millipedes. Its most famous fossil, nicknamed Lizzie, was for a time the earliest known reptile-like animal. The site is central to filling in Romer's Gap.

Just before

Just after