"A fossil (from Classical Latin fossilis, lit. 'obtained by digging') is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age."
Preserved remains or traces of living organisms found in sedimentary rock layers that provide evidence of past life forms and the evolution of life on Earth.
Geologic Time Scale: The division of Earth's history into different time periods based on major geological and biological events.
Stratigraphy: The study of rock layers (strata) and their relationship to one another, used to determine the relative age of fossils.
Paleontology: The study of fossils and extinct organisms, including their evolution and extinction.
Fossilization Process: The process by which organic remains are transformed into fossils through various methods, such as mineralization, carbonization, and permineralization.
Types of Fossils: The different types of fossils that can be found, including body fossils, trace fossils, and chemical fossils.
Index Fossils: Fossils that are widely distributed and lived for a relatively short period of time, used to date rock layers and correlate them across different locations.
Dating Methods: Various methods used to determine the absolute age of fossils, including radiometric dating and paleomagnetism.
Mass Extinctions: Events in which a significant portion of Earth's biodiversity is lost, usually caused by large-scale environmental changes.
Transitional Species: Fossils that show intermediate characteristics between different groups of organisms, providing evidence for evolution.
Preservation Bias: The tendency for certain types of organisms and environments to be more likely to produce fossils than others.
Biostratigraphy: The use of fossils to correlate rock layers and determine the relative ages of different geological formations.
Taphonomy: The study of how fossils are formed and preserved, including the factors that contribute to their decay and destruction.
Evolutionary History: The long-term changes in life on Earth over time, including the emergence of new species and the extinction of others.
Paleoenvironments: The study of past ecosystems and the environmental conditions that existed during different geological periods.
Paleobiology: The study of the biology of extinct organisms, including their anatomy, physiology, and behavior.
Geobiology: The study of the interactions between Earth's environment and its living organisms, both in the past and present.
Geochemistry: The study of the chemical composition and processes of Earth's crust and mantle, including their influence on the formation and preservation of fossils.
Fossil Record: The collective body of fossils that have been found and studied, providing a record of the history of life on Earth.
Body fossils: These are the remains of the actual body or hard parts of an organism, such as bones, shells, or teeth.
Trace fossils: These are fossilized traces of an organism's activity, such as footprints, burrows, or feces.
Cast fossils: These are formed when minerals fill in the space left behind by an organism's body, creating a mold or cast of the original organism.
Coprolites: These are fossilized feces of animals.
Amber fossils: These are organisms that have been preserved in ancient tree resin.
Petrified wood: This fossil type is formed when wood becomes buried by sediment and minerals replace the organic material.
Permineralized fossils: These are formed when minerals infiltrate and fill in the tiny spaces in the cellular structure of an organism.
Carbonaceous fossils: These are fossils that formed from organic matter, such as plant debris or soft-bodied animals, which were buried in sediment and compressed over time.
Molds and casts: These are impressions that are left behind by the organism's body or shell, which are then filled with sediment or minerals.
Resin fossils: These are fossils formed when sap from trees hardens and preserves an organism in place, such as insects or small animals.
"The totality of fossils is known as the fossil record."
"Paleontology is the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance."
"Specimens are usually considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old."
"Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants."
"The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years old to 4.1 billion years old."
"The observation in the 19th century that certain fossils were associated with certain rock strata led to the recognition of a geological timescale and the relative ages of different fossils."
"The development of radiometric dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed scientists to quantitatively measure the absolute ages of rocks and the fossils they host."
"There are many processes that lead to fossilization, including permineralization, casts and molds, authigenic mineralization, replacement and recrystallization, adpression, carbonization, and bioimmuration."
"Fossils vary in size from one-micrometre (1 µm) bacteria to dinosaurs and trees, many meters long and weighing many tons."
"A fossil normally preserves only a portion of the deceased organism, usually that portion that was partially mineralized during life, such as the bones and teeth of vertebrates, or the chitinous or calcareous exoskeletons of invertebrates."
"Fossils may also consist of the marks left behind by the organism while it was alive, such as animal tracks or feces (coprolites). These types of fossil are called trace fossils or ichnofossils, as opposed to body fossils."
"Some fossils are biochemical and are called chemofossils or biosignatures."
"Specimens are usually considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old."
"Paleontology is the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance."
"Fossils vary in size from one-micrometre (1 µm) bacteria to dinosaurs and trees, many meters long and weighing many tons."
"There are many processes that lead to fossilization, including permineralization, casts and molds, authigenic mineralization, replacement and recrystallization, adpression, carbonization, and bioimmuration."
"Some fossils are biochemical and are called chemofossils or biosignatures."
"Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood, and DNA remnants."
"The totality of fossils is known as the fossil record."