Fossils

What is a fossil?

• Preserved remains or traces of organisms

How do fossils form?

• death (unless it’s a track or coprolite)

• preservation– Quick burial in fine sediment &

mineralization of hard parts– desiccation– freezing– amber– asphalt

Preservation favored if…

• Organism has hard parts– Shells, bones, etc

• Only TINY percentage get preserved

Index Fossils

organisms thata. lived for a short timeb. throughout a wide

part of the world

• Correlate rock layers to the same time period