Fossilization

Question 1

What are fossils?

Answer 1

Preserved remnants of organisms including TISSUE, BONES, TEETH, and SHELLS

IF IT PRESERVES IT CAN BECOME A FOSSIL IN TIME

Question 2

How do you preserve a fossil?

Answer 2

IT NEEDS TO BE BURIED

Question 3

What is considered a fossil?

Answer 3

Any fossil that is older than 10,000 years old

If it is younger, then it is considered recent and not yet a fossil

Question 4

What parts of an animal are most likely going to be preserved? What might be lost?

Answer 4

Preserved : Tusks, Bones, Skulls

Not preserved: Fur, Flesh, and any soft internal anatomy

Question 5

Why would hard parts be more likely to be preserved than soft parts?

Answer 5

Hard parts are made of minerals like bones and shells

Question 6

What are the 3 common minerals in fossils that make preservation more likely?

Answer 6

CALCITE (3 Hardness)

QUARTZ (7 Hardness)

APATITE (5 Hardness)

Question 7

What is mostly preserved with the mineral calcite?

Answer 7

Seashells

NEARLY ALL SEASHELLS FOUND IN THE OCEAN ARE MADE OF THE MINERAL CALCITE

Question 8

What is mostly preserved with the mineral quartz?

Answer 8

Trees and wood

Petrified wood consists of primarily quartz that has replaced the original wood

Question 9

What is apatite?

Answer 9

Mineral of bones and teeth, it is the calcium-based mineral that makes teeth and bone stronger

Question 10

What are the 6 different ways in which a fossil may be preserved?

Answer 10

1) Unaltered Remains
2) Permineralization
3) Replacement
4) Cast
5) Carbonization
6) Trace Fossils

Question 11

What are unaltered remains?

Answer 11

Fossils that have not changed much since the death of the organism

Can be due to being encased in amber or frozen in ice

Question 12

What do the unaltered remains of shells look like?

Answer 12

Will be shiny and pearly as when the animal was alive

Still be considered unaltered even if the soft tissue has decayed

Question 13

What is the process of permineralization?

Answer 13

When a fossil’s vacant space has been filled-in with minerals

NEW MINERALS COME IN BUT NOTHING IS REMOVED

EX. Fossilized bone or Petrified wood

Question 14

What is important to note about the fossilization of calcite?

Answer 14

Any fossil made of the mineral calcite will dissolve in acidic rain water

Question 15

What happens when a fossil dissolves?

Answer 15

It leaves behind a mold, which can be filled in one of two ways

Question 16

What is the process of replacement?

Answer 16

If there is a mold of a fossil, new minerals will fill in this mold

IT PRESERVES THE FOSSIL’S FINE DETAIL

Question 17

What is the difference between replacement and permineralization?

Answer 17

Replacement will completely remove anything original and leave behind new minerals

Permineralization will fill in VACANT SPACE of the fossil, adding minerals AS WELL AS KEEPING the original contents of the fossil (NOTHING ORIGINAL IS REMOVED

Question 18

What is the process of cast?

Answer 18

Sediment like sand or mud fills in the mold of a fossil, the resulting fossil is called a cast

Question 19

What is the different between replacement and cast?

Answer 19

Replacement is filling in the mold with MINERALS

Cast is filling in the mold with SEDIMENT

Question 20

What is the process of Carbonization?

Answer 20

Fossil is preserved as a thin film of carbon on the surface of a rock

Carbon comes from the plant or animal

Question 21

Why is there black film for the fossils of carbonization?

Answer 21

Carbonization preserves carbon remains of soft-bodied animals and plants, this is what makes up the black film

Question 22

What are trace fossils?

What kind of things can be considered trace fossils?

Answer 22

Fossilized BEHAVIOR

Can consist of impressions, burrows, tubes, tunnels, fossilized poop, and track ways

Question 23

How are trace fossils unique compared to the other fossilization methods?

Answer 23

They do not preserved the animal itself and can sometimes be ambiguous in their origin

BUTTT their behavior may be known, but not the maker

Question 24

What are coporolites?

Answer 24

Deposits left behind by animals, ESSENTIALLY FOSSILIZED POOP

ALSO CONSIDERED TRACE FOSSILS