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The Fossilization Flow Chart. FOSSIL!. Trace Fossils. Body Fossils. Unaltered Remains. Altered Remains. Tracks Borings Burrows Coprolite. Some Original Material. Encasement Amber Tar Mummification Freezing. Original Material Changed. No O riginal Material. Permineralization. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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The Fossilization Flow Chart
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
MOST OF THESE ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE IN A GIVEN SPECIMEN!!
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
Trace Fossils(AKA “Ichnofossils”)
EVIDENCE OF AN ORGANISMS ACTIVITIES (tracks, borings, burrows, coprolites)
Tracks (locomotion)
Burrows (domocile)
Coprolite (digestion)Borings(domocileor feeding)
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
Body FossilsThe actual remains of ancient organisms (as opposed to traces of life)
Teeth
Bones
Wood/plants
ShellsExoskeleton
Any part of a body from an animal older than 10,000 years old!
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
Altered RemainsBody fossils that have been changed in some way
after the organism died. Many fossils are formed this way.
Permineralization
Pyritization
Molds and casts
Carbonization Recrystallization
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
PermineralizationA common form of fossilization where the pore spaces of a
skeletal element (bones, teeth, shells, etc.) are filled in by minerals that have precipitated from groundwater.
Some original material from the original element remains.
Pore spaces filled in with a mineral (usually quartz or calcite)
Many fossil bones and teeth have been
at least partially permineralized
Petrified wood is another good example, though
replacement and recrystallization can also be factors in fossil wood
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
ReplacementThe slow, microscopic process of exchanging molecules
from the original bone or skeletal element with molecules that were not associated with the organism before death. This means that no original material is
left in the fossil unlike in permineralization.
A type of replacement called pyritization where all of the original material is replaced by “fool’s gold”
or pyrite
This type of replacement, silicification, has replaced the
original calcium carbonate shell with a mineral called quartz
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
Molds and CastsIn this type of fossilization, the original fossil creates
an impression on the surrounding rock creating a mold.
A cast would be created if the space where the original shell was then filled in with new sediment.
External Mold------ Shell------ Internal Mold
If sediment was to fill in the external mold on the left, then a cast would be formed. So it would look similar to the half of the actual shell, but be made of sediment.
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
CarbonizationThis mode of preservation occurs when heat and
pressure chemically transform “volatile compounds” (such as nitrogen, hydrogen, and
oxygen found in protein) and leave a carbon film.
Carbonized beeCarbonized eurypterid
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
RecrystallizationIn this process, unstable minerals from the original organism are transformed to more stable minerals. This most commonly occurs in animals with shells
made of minerals called aragonite or high-magnesium calcite (like sea urchins!) that is highly unstable and transforms into more stable calcite.
The original shell material from this gastropod has been changed to a more stable form of calcium carbonate
This one is visibly harder to observe but the coral has transformed from aragonite to more stable calcite
FOSSIL!
Body Fossils Trace Fossils
Unaltered Remains Altered Remains
Encasement•Amber•TarMummificationFreezing
TracksBoringsBurrowsCoprolite
PermineralizationReplacement
Recrystallization
Molds and Casts
Carbonization
Some Original Material
No Original MaterialOriginal Material Changed
PyritizationSilicification
Unaltered RemainsBody fossils in which the original material hasn’t been changed or replaced by another substance
Encasement in amber Freezing
Encasement in tarUsually only very young coral and
shells are found unaltered