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.
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News tagged with dinosaur bones
Ancient mammal tracks found at national monument
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jul 24, 2009 |
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(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) |
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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) |
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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.
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Watching Proteins Direct Crystal Growth One Step at a Time (w/ Video)
18 hours ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry imaged the growth of protein-studded mineral surfaces with unprecedented resolution and provided a glimpse into how living systems engineer key ...
DNA of Jesus-era shrouded man in Jerusalem reveals earliest case of leprosy
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
19 hours ago |
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The DNA of a 1st century shrouded man found in a tomb on the edge of the Old City of Jerusalem has revealed the earliest proven case of leprosy. Details of the research will be published December 16 in the ...
Soup can reopens mystery of doomed Franklin Expedition
Dec 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Lead levels that are "off the scale" have been confirmed after tests were done this morning on the lid of a soup can dating back more than 150 years. The findings reopen the mystery surrounding ...
French find puts humans in Europe 200,000 years earlier
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 15, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (13) |
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Experts on prehistoric man are rethinking their dates after a find in a southern French valley suggested our ancestors may have reached Europe 1.57 million years ago: 200,000 years earlier than we thought.
World's first skeletal mount of Paluxysaurus jonesi reveals new biology
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The Early Cretaceous sauropod Paluxysaurus jonesi weighed 20 tons, was 60 feet long and had a neck 26 feet long, according to scientists who prepared the world's first full skeletal mount ...
Close-up photos of dying star show our sun's fate (w/ Video)
Dec 15, 2009 |
5 / 5 (20) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- About 550 light-years from Earth, a star like our Sun is writhing in its death throes. Chi Cygni has swollen in size to become a red giant star so large that it would swallow every planet ...
Late-surviving megafauna exposed by ancient DNA in frozen soil
Dec 15, 2009 |
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Extinct woolly mammoths and ancient American horses may have been grazing the North American steppe for several thousand years longer than previously thought. After plucking ancient DNA from frozen soil in ...
More blood vessels in hormone-resistant prostate tumors
Dec 15, 2009 |
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Patients with advanced prostate cancer are often treated with hormones, but when the tumours start growing again they have more and different blood vessels, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy, at the University ...
Story of 4.5 million-year-old whale unveiled in Huelva
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 15, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
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In 2006, a team of Spanish and American researchers found the fossil remains of a whale, 4.5 million years old, in Bonares, Huelva. Now they have published, for the first time, the results of the decay and ...
U of A students reaffirm the work of a 1920s paleontologist
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 14, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Three University of Alberta paleontology graduate students blew the dust off an 85-year-old dinosaur find to discover the original researcher had it right and a 1970s revision of his work was wrong.
List of search results for dinosaur bones
