Fossils

Fossils
Fossils are the preserved remains
of animals and plants that we find
in sedimentary rocks.
How do fossils form?
A fossil can only form if the animal or
plant is buried quickly in a place where
there is very little air.
This is why we only find fossils in sedimentary
rocks which form in water on the sea bed or a lake
bed.
When animals that live in
or near the sea die, their
bodies are washed into the
sea.

The soft parts of the

animals rot away.
Over a long period of time,
minerals in the water
gradually replace the bones
of the animal.
 Eventually the minerals
harden into rock so we
have a copy of the bones of
the original animal as a
fossil

This is a dinosaur fossil in

limestone formed about
150 million years ago
The animals
die next to a
source of
water.
The soft
parts of the
animals rot
away.

Minerals replace
the bones of
animals

Minerals are harden

to form a rock in the
shape of the original
bone.
 Sometimes only the imprint of the animal in the
sediments is left behind.
We call them mould fossils.
Mould of a
leaf in Mould of
shale dinosaur’s
about 350 footprint in
million sandstone
years old! about 150
million years
old!
Sometimes a mould fills with minerals that
harden to a solid. This makes a cast of the
animal.

Two fossils of
ammonites in
limestone
About 240
million years
old!
Lab: Make your own fossil