A wonderful story can be told by these fossils which invalidates the commonly held uniformitarian idea of slow and gradual accumulation of sediments. Since the 1960s or so, strict uniformitarian thinking has relaxed somewhat, but still nothing too catastrophic is considered, such as the Flood of Noah's day. Rock units are separated by obvious bedding planes, but frequently even small-scale banding is visible, interpreted as yearly indicators, much like tree rings in a tree. Counting these yearly bands of dividing rock thickness by today's meager accumulation rates, give support to the millions of years concept of geological ages. Polystrate fossils can address this question.
Polystrate fossils are the exception to the rule, but are known to all geologists.
Frequently trees are found protruding out of coal seams into the strata above, and perhaps extending into a second coal seam, several feet above the first. I've also discovered thin, reed-like stem, transgressing numerous layers. Furthermore, I've seen hundreds of individual fossils whose body width exceeds the width of the banded layers in which they are encased. Obviously the layers cannot be the result of slow accumulations, for a dead fish, for example, will not remain in an articulated condition for several years while sediment accumulates around it. No, it must be quickly buried in order to be preserved at all.