What Is a Fossil?
Remains or traces of ancient organisms older than 10,000 years.
What is a fossil?
Fossils that are actual physical remains.
What are body fossils?
The first step in fossilization is when this happens to an organism.
What is death?
Minerals fill the pores of bones or wood in this method.
What is permineralization?
Mammoths preserved in ice are examples of this type of fossil.
What are frozen fossils?
Fossils can be preserved in rock, ice, amber, or this loose material.
What is sediment?
Fossils that show evidence of activity rather than body parts.
What are trace fossils?
To avoid decay, an organism must be buried quickly by this.
What is sediment?
The original material dissolves and is replaced by minerals.
What is replacement?
Animals trapped in natural asphalt become these fossils.
What are tar pit fossils?
Fossils provide evidence of ancient life, environments, and this biological process.
What is evolution?
Fossils formed when only a thin carbon film remains.
What is carbonization?
Minerals replace hard parts in this fossilization process.
What is mineralization?
Only a thin carbon outline remains in this method.
What is carbonization?
Insects preserved in amber are this type of fossil.
What are amber fossils?
Bones, teeth, shells, and leaves are examples of these fossils.
What are body fossils?
Fossils formed when an impression is left behind and later filled with minerals.
What are molds and casts?
This natural process eventually exposes fossils at the surface.
What is erosion (or tectonic activity)?
Impressions left behind and later filled with minerals form these.
What are molds and casts?
Fossils created when an organism leaves a hollow impression.
What are molds?
Footprints, burrows, nests, and coprolites are examples of these fossils.
What are trace fossils?
Insects trapped in hardened tree resin become this rare fossil type.
type.What are amber fossils?
Fossilization is rare because these conditions must happen quickly after death.
What is rapid burial?
Tree resin hardens around organisms in this preservation method.
What is amber preservation?
Fossils formed when minerals fill in a mold, creating a 3D replica.
What are casts?