FOSSILS

• Fossils are the remains of plants

and animals that lived long ago.
Fossils are found in rocks. Bones,
shells, feathers and leaves can all
become fossils.
Fossilisation
After an animal dies, the soft parts of its
body decompose leaving the hard parts,
like the skeleton, behind. This becomes
buried by small particles of rock called
sediment.
As more layers of sediment build up on
top, the sediment around the skeleton
begins to compact and turn to rock.
The bones then start to be dissolved by
water flowing through the rock. Minerals in
the water replace the bone, leaving a rock
replica of the original bone called a fossil.
Trace Fossils
Trace fossils are formed when an
animal makes a mark in mud or
sand. It is covered by a new layer of
sediment. The sediment dries and
hardens.
 • Fossils can help us to work out
how a rock formed.
• Limestone contains fossils of plants
and shelled sea creatures. So we
know limestone was formed under
the sea.

Crinoid marine fossil in limestone.

• Coal sometimes contains plant
fossils. This means that coal was
not formed under the sea. Coals
formed when trees or other plants
fell into swamps, millions of years
ago.
• Fossils tell us about the plants and
animals that lived millions of years
ago. Most fossils are the remains
of extinct animals or plants. The
kinds of fossils found in rocks of
different ages vary because life on
Earth has changed through time.