Fossils are evidence of once living life. The term fossil comes from Latin term that means something dug up (Paul, 1980). The mineralization of fossils occurs when an organism dies and the soft body part changes into a mineral. Mineralization is the most common process of fossilization. Usually only the hard parts, shells, bones, or teeth, of an animal will preserve because they are burried quickly and will not decay (Thompson, 1982). When the original material is replaced by a different material a pseudomorph is produced. There are four common mineral classifications that create a pseudomorph or a natural cast of a once living organism: calcium carbonates, silicates, phosphates, and iron oxide compounds (Singer, 1999). For more information visit www.scsc.k12.ar.us/TuttS/fossil_formationl.htm and www.scienceviews.com/dinosaurs/fossilformation.html, some fossil webpages.
Calcium carbonate or calcite is probably the most common in the fossilization process. Many marine organisms use calcite to build their shells, so when fossilization occurs the calcite stays. Also, calcite can be dissolved by water when sedimentary rocks are undergoing chemical, physical, and biological changes, or diagenesis, and therefore is readily available to create a pseudomorph.
Silica
Silica is one of the most abundant minerals on Earth. Since there is a large amount of silica materials, silicates commonly preserves fossils. Flint is the common silica mineral used to form a fossil. Flint fossils are found in the Upper Cretaceous Chalk deposites in Great Britian. Fossils can be form from opal, but they are a rarity. These fossils can be found in the Cretaceous deposits in Australia.
Phosphates
Fossilized bone is much denser than modern bones because of the phosphates that replace the original material. Bones are made of calcium phosphate and organic complexes. When the fossilization process starts, the organic matter decays and the phosphatic portion is replaced by apatite, calcium phosphate.
Iron Oxide Compounds
When there is a high content of iron in the original sediment, iron compounds are the minerals that preserve a fossil. The clay sediments on the ocean floor are anoxic and contains iron oxides. When an animal dies, it will sink to the bottem and starts to go through anoxic decomposition. This process changes the iron oxides to iron sulphides, the fossil then becomes pyritized, which means it turns into pyrite.
Fossils can be preserved in a few common types of minerals. Pyrite, calcite, and apatite are just a few minerals that replace the original material after an animal dies, which creates a pseudomorph. A pseudomorph is a natural cast of the once living animal. This is a beautiful process that can take millions of years to create.
Print Resources
Paul, Chris, 1980. The Natural History of Fossils. Holmes and Meirer: New York, 292 pp.
Singer, Ronald ed., 1999. Encyclopedia of Paleontology. Vol. 1,A-L. Fitzroy Dearborn: Chicago, 645 pp.
Thompson, Ida, 1982. National Audubon Society: Field Guide to North American Fossils. Alfred A Knopf: New York, 846pp.
Links
www.emporia.edu/earthsci/museum/museum.htm, Johnston Geology Museum at Emporia State University.
www.fossilmuseum.net, The Virtual Fossil Museum.
This page was created on Nov. 29, 2005.
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