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FOSSILIZATION
FOSSILIZATION
FOSSILIZATION
A fossil is an obvious trace of pre-existing life. Fossils are old, usually embedded in
sedimentary rocks and are not associated with humans. A fossil is also direct remains of
a part of an organism, such as teeth, bones, or shells, evidence of past life such as a
footprint or a gizzard stone these are known as trace fossils. A fossil is any evidence of
a once-living organism. This includes body fossils, casts, molds, footprints, track ways
and feeding traces. This evidence of previous living organisms can then be used to
study changes in life forms through time. This includes their evolution, ecology,
Paleontology is the study and interpretation of fossils. Fossils are useful in several
ways; to help determine ancient environments and the ages of rock beds. Paleontology
Body Fossils are preserved remains where an organism's body tissue, or parts thereof,
Trace Fossils constitute any evidence of left behind by an organism that is not tissue
remains. Examples of trace fossils are animal tracks, trails, burrows borings,
A B
A- Body Fossils include remains like this peccary mandible which includes teeth and
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Bone.
B- Trace Fossils are evidence of the presence of an organism in its environment like
scavengers, and pressure and temperature changes are several processes that decrease
the odds of fossilization occurring. The possession of hard parts, rapid deep burial,
Most of the fossils used to interpret earth history are organisms whose hard part (shell,
bone) have been preserved. Since the hard parts of most invertebrate organisms are
composed of calcium carbonate, silica, or chitin, and since the bones of most
There are various methods of preservation employed in fossil study, some fossils are
METHOD OF PRESERVATION
subsequent to death, and the conditions under which the fossil was originally created.
Most remains do not become fossilized after death. All life begins to decay after it dies
and will decompose over time. Animal remains are often subjected to predation. To
are conducive to preservation. The more important circumstances are rapid burial and
the existence of hard part in the remains. If an organism is not quickly buried,
microbes and other animals will devour the remains and the material will be lost to the
fossil record. Even if remains become fossilized, erosional processes can destroy them.
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Unless an organism happens to die in anaerobic environment, its soft parts will not be
Preservation Methods
Per-mineralization –
Minerals deposited in pore spaces (such as in wood and bone) and may become per-
mineralized: also called petrification. Skeletal material may be the original, replaced,
Calcite (CaCO3) is the more common form of calcium carbonate. It is more stable than
aragonite and therefore does not dissolve as readily. Calcite usually has a grayish
colour and a slight vitreous (or glassy) luster when found as a skeletal mineral. It can be
Silica (SiO2) is easy to distinguish from the carbonate minerals since it will not react
with acid. Skeletons composed of this mineral will commonly have a brown, earthy
colour, with or without a vitreous lustre, and can have a granular texture. Silica is rarely
Pyrite (FeS2) or "fools' gold" is a golden colour mineral with a metallic lustre and is
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Recrystallization - Original material is recrystallized into a more stable form. No
Mold –
Skeletal hard part dissolved resulting in a hole in the rock. Internal molds
preserve the internal structure. External molds preserve the external structure.
Casts –
New material fills in natural molds, forming a replica of the original skeleton.
Carbonization –
Heat and pressure degrade original materials leaving a thin film of carbon in
the shape of the organism, this can preserve fine details and soft parts.
Trace fossils –
(gizzard stones), may help show the size, living conditions, or eating
BODY FOSSILS
i. Original Skeletal Material refers to the hard tissues that are preserved as the
original material. This includes many invertebrate molluska that have shells
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composed of calcium carbonate, silica, or chitin and vertebrate species with
ii. Encrustations occur in caves where ground water with a high concentration of
minerals are remain. These chemicals then form a thin coating on the interior
surface of the cave and remains that lie in it thereby preserving organisms that
die there.
iii. Tar Impregnation is excellent for fossilization. The La Brea tar pits of
Smaller tar pits frequently yield perfectly preserved insects their larvae.
iv. In Amber Entombment coniferous trees, like spruce, pine and fir that have a
sticky resinous pitch that seeps from damage to the tree's bark .Many small
insects and other small organisms occasionally become trapped in the resin.
After burial the sap hardens into amber. Particular areas of the Baltic Sea
coastline and a few islands in the West Indies are well known for insects
preserved in amber.
covered much of the Northern Hemisphere. Some animals fell into crevasses or
soft tissues.
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Unaltered preservation (like insects or plant parts trapped in amber, a hardened form of
tree sap)
B. Altered Remains
slowly
groundwater like carbonate, silica, and iron oxides, to bond the sediment together and
harden. Often the groundwater, and the minerals contained in it, impacts the
fossilization process.
In Per-mineralization, bones, teeth, shells, and plant stems have porous internal
structures. These pores can become filled with mineral deposits in the soil and
the original hard parts of the organism may not change but it generally will be altered.
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Per-mineralization or petrification in which rock-like minerals seep in slowly and
replace the original organic tissues with silica, calcite or pyrite, forming a rock-like
fossil – can preserve hard and soft parts - most bone and wood fossils are per-
mineralized.
Carbonization occurs when an organism becomes pressed into sediment and its
volatile,
liquid or gaseous contents are forced out leaving a thin film of carbon. When other
organic material remains, as when plants are entombed, coal is formed. Thus,
In Recrystallization the hard tissues are converted, usually in a solid state, into a new
Carbonization or coalification in which only the carbon remains in the specimen - other
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Dissolution or Replacement refers to fossils formed when groundwater, particularly if
it is acidic, acts upon the remains to dissolve the hard and soft tissue structures of an
organism trapped in sediments. The hard tissues are often simultaneously replaced by
example of this type of fossilization where even the internal microscopic cellular
structure of the plant is replaced by silica in the process of fossilization. This occurs
when skeletal material is replaced, molecule by molecule, bysome new alien material.
This process occurs gradually over a long period of time as the original mineralogy
Replacement where an organism’s hard tissues dissolve and are replaced by other more
decomposes in sediment and is replaced by material that hardens into casting of the
original animal's likeness. Animals with exoskeletons or shells are often fossilized in
this way.
Fossils of animals with shells, particularly molluska, are sometimes called Steinkerns.
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Authigenic preservation molds and casts of organism itself occur where the animal
Desiccation
Desiccation occurs when an animal dies in extremely dry and arid locations, such as
where it is highly unlikely that it will be able to decay. These fossils are very rare, due
to the fact that they require that the remains be undisturbed by scavengers and that the
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TRACE FOSSILS
past presence in the environment that has been preserved by leaving an impression, but
not necessarily filled with hardened material such as an animal's track or footprint.
Cast is the copy of the original form when the "positive" item is removed or dissolved
away and the remaining "negative" impression becomes filled with sediment or mineral
Compression refers to fossils that form as a result of pressure from sediments that
cover an organism or its trace fossils of it. Compression usually is used to describe the
Borings and Burrows from when worms, clams and other burrowing invertebrates
"drill" into rocks, wood, shells, and all types of sediment. These cavities are frequently
preserved, especially in fine-grained rocks and may also appear in the bones of
vertebrate animals.
Coprolite is the fossilized excrement from animal and is sometimes very useful in
Gastroliths are smooth, polished stones that are typically found in the abdominal
cavities of skeletal fossils of dinosaurs and large mammals. These "grinding stones" are
thought to have been essential for the animal's digestion of plant material by grinding
Gnawings are the result of rodent, marsupial and other animals that chewed on bones
or trees.
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These Gastroliths were found in the abdonimal area of a dinosaur fossil and may have
helped the animal digest plant material. Similar small gastroliths are often found
Coprolite, like this preserved dung from an alligator, can be useful in determining the
type of foods that the animal ingested for nurishment or may reveal digestive disorders
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Taphonomy
addition to determining the type and intensity of the processes and their role in
preservation, taphonomy detect bias in the fossil record and tends to provide solutions
How can we tell what has happened to the shells from the time of the death of
environment?
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Taphonomic processes
There are three major categories of taphonomic processes of alteration and destruction:
Physical processes involve the mechanical breakdown of organic material via water
and /or wind action (storms). Chemical processes include any alteration of a material's
Biological processes, such as sponge or algal borings, can help to alter and eventually
All three types of processes can act in concert at various amplitudes in any given
Fossil concentrations
Fossils can be concentrated in two major ways, by physical processes, such as storms
Konservat-Lagerstatten
minimized. That is, physical, chemical and biological destruction must be kept to a
minimum.
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insects and others in amber (the Baltic states, Dominican Republic), and Burgess Shale
(Canada). The Burgess Shale is located in the Canadian Rockies (British Columbia).
The shales and its fossils are dark black in colour, suggesting anaerobic conditions (no
oxygen) and the fine-grained nature of the sediment indicates quiet water deposition,
sediment. The Solnhofen is also very fine grained. The complete skeletons (e.g.
These fossil deposits are important because they represent a "snapshot" in time, because
of probable rapid burial and they provide previously unknown anatomical details that
can be important from a systematic (evolutionary) point of view. They also provide test
for environmental and diagenetic boundary conditions and the excellent time resolution
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Processes of breakage and diagenesis of fossils. Dead organisms may be (a)
movement; (d) bioeroded by borers; or (e) corroded and dissolved by solutions in the
sediment. After burial, specimens may be (f) flattened by the weight of sediment above;
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Ichnology: Trace Fossils
Trace fossils or ichno fossils represent the effects of organismal activity upon or in the
substrate. Tracks and trails are the most commonly encountered traces. Body fossils are
Trace fossils are often preserved in environments that are hostile to the preservation of
body fossils (shallow, high energy environments, shallow marine sandstones, and deep
marine shales).
Trace fossils are generally not affected by diagenesis, but can be enhanced by
diagenetic processes. Trace fossils are not transported, and are thus good indicators of
Trace fossils may be preserved in a number of reliefs. They may be preserved in actual
and are subsequently eroded out of the surrounding sediment in full relief.
Repichnia: These are crawling or walking traces; this group includes any trace that was
made during locomotion. Included in this category are examples of amphibian, reptilian
Fodichnia: These are feeding structures, usually in faunal burrows made by deposit
feeders that systematically mine the sediment for food. A typical feature found
Domichnia: Domichnial traces are burrows used principally for dwelling as opposed
to
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feeding. These types of burrows may be oriented vertically (Skolithos) and are
commonly U-shaped.
Cubichnia: This group of behavioral traces includes resting or nestling traces; places
impressions
Pascichnia: These types of traces are made by grazing herbivores, usually at the
gastropods.
Hard substrate traces: Traces are also be made on hard substrates (shells) and are
usually called borings. Examples are the small boring formed behind by clionid
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1. Koupichniurn (horseshoe crab tracks); 2. Isopodichnius; 3. borings of Polydora, a
pholadid bivalve borings; 8. Diplocraterion; 9. unlined crab burrow; 10. Skolithos; 11.
16. Rhizocorallium; 17. Teichichnus; 18. Diplichnites (trilobite tracks); 19. Cruziana;
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Rusophycus; 21. Ateriacites; 22. Zoophycos; 23. Lorenzinia; 24. Paleodictyon; 25.
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Ethological classification of trace fossils. (Adapted from Frey, 1978)
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