Palaeobotanical collection
The palaeobotanical collection contains fossilised plant remains. The fossil material primarily comprises leaf imprints, as well as an extensive collection of fossilised wood and fruit and seed flora.
The plant remains are arranged according to stratigraphic criteria (their age) and where they were discovered.
The focal point of the palaeobotanical collection is the material belonging to Oswald Heer.
These objects include valuable fossils from:
- Öhningen
- Schämbelen
- Greenland
- the Arctic (polar expedition 1870 to 1873)
- Madeira
In his extensive body of palaeobotanical work on local flora, especially "Die Fossile Flora der Schweiz", Heer drew conclusions about climatic conditions as plant communities are sensitive climate indicators.
Besides a sizeable leaf collection taken from rocks in the Molasse basin, Switzerland, the collection also contains specimens from the four corners of the globe.
Curator
Dep. Erdwissenschaften
Sonneggstrasse 5
8092
Zürich
Switzerland