concept

Anoxia

The condition of water or sediment holding essentially no dissolved oxygen. For a living organism it is a death sentence; for a corpse it is the one real chance. Without oxygen, aerobic bacteria cannot operate and scavenging animals cannot live there, so the two most destructive forces switch off together. Nearly every Earth deposit preserving exceptional soft tissue formed under oxygen-starved bottom water - stagnant hypersaline lagoons, thermally stratified lakes, enclosed deep basins.