Fossil
hideFossils (from Latin fossus, literally "having been dug up") are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous (fossil-containing) rock formations and sedimentary layers (strata) is known as the fossil record. The study of fossils across geological time, how they were formed, and the evolutionary relationships between taxa (phylogeny) are some of the most important functions of the science of paleontology. Such a preserved specimen is called a "fossil" if it is older than some minimum age, most often the arbitrary date of 10,000 years ago. Hence, fossils range in age from the youngest at the start of the Holocene Epoch to the oldest from the Archaean Eon several billion years old. The observations that certain fossils were associated with certain rock strata led early geologists to recognize a geological timescale in the 19th century. The development of radiometric dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed geologists to determine the numerical or "absolute" age of the various strata and thereby the included fossils.
Like extant organisms, fossils vary in size from microscopic, such as single bacterial cells only one micrometer in diameter, to gigantic, such as 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 exoskeletons of invertebrates. Preservation of soft tissues is rare in the fossil record. Fossils may also consist of the marks left behind by the organism while it was alive, such as the footprint or feces (coprolites) of a reptile. These types of fossil are called trace fossils (or ichnofossils), as opposed to body fossils. Finally, past life leaves some markers that cannot be seen but can be detected in the form of biochemical signals; these are known as chemofossils or biomarkers.
For more information about Fossil, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with dinosaur bones
Ancient mammal tracks found at national monument
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jul 24, 2009 |
5 / 5 (4) |
0
(AP) -- Hundreds of tiny footprints left by mammals some 190 million years ago have been found on a canyon wall in a remote part of Dinosaur National Monument, park officials said Thursday.
Evidence of the 'Lost World' -- did dinosaurs survive the end Cretaceous extinctions?
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Apr 28, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (14) |
2
The Lost World, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's account of an isolated community of dinosaurs that survived the catastrophic extinction event 65 million years ago, has no less appeal now than it did when it was written a century ...
A case of mistaken dino-identity
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jan 13, 2009 |
4 / 5 (7) |
1
The official State Dinosaur of Texas is up for a new name, based on Southern Methodist University research that proved the titleholder has been misidentified.
Search results for dinosaur bones
A motley collection of boneworms (w/ Video)
12 hours ago |
5 / 5 (5) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- It sounds like a classic horror story -- eyeless, mouthless worms lurk in the dark, settling onto dead animals and sending out green "roots" to devour their bones. In fact, such worms do exist ...
Ancient penguin DNA raises doubts about accuracy of genetic dating techniques
17 hours ago |
4.9 / 5 (17) |
4
Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been ...
Experts: Placebo power behind many natural cures
17 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
(AP) -- People looking for natural cures will be happy to know there is one. Two words explain how it works: "I believe." It's the placebo effect - the ability of a dummy pill or a faked treatment to make people feel better, ...
The bizarre lives of bone-eating worms
Nov 09, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
The females of the recently discovered Osedax marine worms feast on submerged bones via a complex relationship with symbiotic bacteria, and they are turning out to be far more diverse and widespread than scientists expected. ...
Remains of Minoan-style painting discovered during excavations of Canaanite palace
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 09, 2009 |
3.5 / 5 (6) |
0
The remains of a Minoan-style wall painting, recognizable by a blue background, the first of its kind to be found in Israel, was discovered in the course of the recent excavation season at Tel Kabri. This fresco joins others ...
W. Africa's last giraffes make surprising comeback
Nov 08, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
(AP) -- A crisp African dawn is breaking overhead, and Zibo Mounkaila is on the back of a pickup truck bounding across a sparse landscape of rocky orange soil.
Dinosaur prints found on NZealand's South Island
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 07, 2009 |
4 / 5 (7) |
0
Scientists have discovered the first evidence that dinosaurs roamed the South Island of New Zealand with 70-million-year-old footprints found in six locations.
Male sabertoothed cats were pussycats compared to macho lions
Nov 05, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (6) |
0
Despite their fearsome fangs, male sabertoothed cats may have been less aggressive than many of their feline cousins, says a new study of male-female size differences in extinct big cats.
The last European hadrosaurs lived in the Iberian Peninsula
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 05, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
Spanish researchers have studied the fossil record of hadrosaurs, the so-called 'duck-billed' dinosaurs, in the Iberian Peninsula for the purpose of determining that they were the last of their kind to inhabit ...
T.rex's oldest ancestor identified
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 04, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Remains of the oldest-known relative of T.rex have been identified, more than 100 years after being pulled out of a Gloucestershire reservoir, according to research published in the Zoological Jo ...
List of search results for dinosaur bones
