the.com/sediment bed
a graveyard so patient it keeps perfect records of every catastrophe that fell on it
time capsulesingle layers can preserve a single day's storm
oil cradleburied organic muck becomes petroleum over millions of years
compaction tricksqueezes water out as it turns to solid rock
fossil vaultmost fossils survive only by quick burial in sediment
global archivemeteorite layers mark mass extinctions worldwide