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4th March 2016, 02:07 PM
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Join Date: May 2012
Re: Types of fossils

Fossils are remains or traces of past organisms that have been preserved by nature.

Types of Fossils

There are many ways fossils can form,

The two main ways that fossil can be classified:

1. Body fossils

The most common body fossils found are from the hard parts of the body, including bones, claws and teeth. More rarely, fossils have been found of softer body tissues.

2. Trace fossils

Trace fossils (ichnofossils) record the movements and behaviors of the dinosaurs.

There are many types of trace fossils. Even the lack of trace fossils can yield information.

Other types

The four types of fossils are:

1. Mold fossils (a fossilized impression made in the substrate - a negative image of the organism)

2. Cast fossils (formed when a mold is filled in)

3. Trace fossils = Ichnofossils (fossilized nests, gastroliths, burrows, footprints, etc.)

4. True form fossils (fossils of the actual animal or animal part).

There are six ways that organisms can turn into fossils, including:

Unaltered preservation (like insects or plant parts trapped in amber, a hardened form of tree sap)

Permineralization petrification (in which rock-like minerals seep in slowly and replace the original organic tissues with silica, calcite or pyrite, forming a rock

Replacement (organisms are hard parts dissolve and are replaced by other minerals, like calcite, silica, pyrite, or iron)

Carbonization coalification (in which only the carbon remains in the specimen - other elements, like hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are removed)

Recrystalization (hard parts either revert to more stable minerals or small crystals turn into larger crystals)

Authigenic preservation (molds and casts of organisms that have been destroyed or dissolved).


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