biology

Matt Formation

Matt Formation is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Matt Formation rather than just read about it. In short: The Matt Formation is an Early Oligocene-aged marine geological formation that outcrops in the Glarus Alps of the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. It is most notable for its fossiliferous slates found near Engi, known as the Engi slates, Glarner Schiefer (Glarus Slate) or Glarner Fischschiefer ("Glarus fish slate"), which contain the well-preserved fossils of fishes, birds, and sea turtles.

Key takeaways

Matt Formation belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Matt Formation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Matt Formation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Matt Formation is an Early Oligocene-aged marine geological formation that outcrops in the Glarus Alps of the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. It is most notable for its fossiliferous slates found near Engi, known as the Engi slates, Glarner Schiefer (Glarus Slate) or Glarner Fischschiefer ("Glarus fish slate"), which contain the well-preserved fossils of fishes, birds, and sea turtles. The metamorphization of the rock has led to many of the fossils appearing somewhat distorted.

Geology The Matt Formation is divided into two sections: a lower member of turbiditic sandstones (Matt Sandstones) and the upper Engi Slates, which contain the famous fossil fishes. As with other formations along the Glarus thrust, deformation along the fault has caused the Matt Formation to be overlain by older Eocene and Late Cretaceous-aged marls and limestones of the Blattengrat and Wildflysch nappes.

Paleobiota The fossil fishes of Glarus were among the earliest known to Western science. Although the slates from Engi mines have been mined since the mid-16th century, the first description of its fossil fishes was by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer in 1705. Scheuchzer's writings prompted a flourishing trade in the fossil fishes of Glarus, which had been sent to museums all around Europe throughout the 18th century. Many of these fishes were described with Linnean taxonomy for the first time in the early 19th century by Europe's pioneering paleontologists, including Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville and Louis Agassiz. The Glarus slate is consistent with a marine environment in the western Paratethys Sea. The Alpine orogeny uplifted these former marine fossils far above sea level, where they are exposed today. The paleobiota of the Glarus Slate shows close affinities with that of the Rauenberg Lagerstätte of Germany and early Oligocene formations of the Romanian Carpathians and the Caucasus Mountains. All of these localities were formerly part of the Paratethys Sea.

Bony fish Primarily based on Woodward (1901), with taxonomic changes:

Reptiles

Birds

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Matt Formation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Matt Formation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Matt Formation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Matt Formation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Matt Formation

In research: Matt Formation appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Matt Formation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Matt Formation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geologic formations of Switzerland, Glarus thrust, Oligocene Series of Europe, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Matt Formation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Matt Formation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Matt Formation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Matt Formation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Matt Formation in simple terms?

Why does Matt Formation matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Matt Formation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Matt Formation.