Related topics: dinosaurs , fossil record , skeleton , paleontologist , jurassic period
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 fossil
Australian fossil unlocks secrets to the origin of whales
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 22, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
0
Museum Victoria palaeobiologist Dr Erich Fitzgerald has made new groundbreaking discoveries into the origin of baleen whales, based on a 25 million year old fossil found near Torquay in Victoria.
Fossil shelved for a century reworks carnivore family tree
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 22, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (8) |
4
More than a hundred years after its discovery, the limbs and vertebrae of a fossil have been pulled off the shelf at the American Museum of Natural History to revise the view of early carnivore lifestyles. ...
Loud and lazy but didn't chew gum: Ancient koalas
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 19, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Skull fragments of prehistoric koalas from the Riversleigh rainforests of millions of year ago suggest they shared the modern koala's "lazy" lifestyle and ability to produce loud "bellowing" ...
How to Find Signs of Life on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 18, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
2
By studying the signatures of fossil life on Earth, geobiologists can get a clue of what to look for when hunting for extraterrestrial life on Mars.
UNSW students sequence genome of the Wollemi Pine
Dec 17, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- UNSW students have sequenced the chloroplast genome of the ancient Wollemi Pine - a world first that could reveal how a "dinosaur" of the tree kingdom survived 200 million years of shifting ...
Science's breakthrough of the year: Uncovering 'Ardi'
Dec 17, 2009 |
2.3 / 5 (3) |
2
The research that brought to light the fossils of Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid species that lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia, has topped Science's list of this year's most significant s ...
Study expects rising interest in energy saving
Dec 16, 2009 |
1 / 5 (1) |
0
(AP) -- Energy-efficient technology for batteries, grids and power storage will be trendy in 2010, according to a study released Wednesday on clean energy technology.
NASA Calculates a Carbon Budget for California
Dec 16, 2009 |
2.8 / 5 (9) |
6
(PhysOrg.com) -- While world organizations struggle to find a benchmark and tracking standards for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, NASA has been supporting California’s new carbon emissions inventory report, using its satellite ...
Late-surviving megafauna exposed by ancient DNA in frozen soil
Dec 15, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
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 ...
Story of 4.5 million-year-old whale unveiled in Huelva
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 15, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
0
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 ...
Nearly 100 new species described by California Academy of Sciences in 2009
Dec 14, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
In 2009, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences added 94 new relatives to our family tree. The new species include 65 arthropods, 14 plants, eight fishes, five sea slugs, one coral, and one fossil ...
Ancient pygmy sea cow discovered
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 14, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (6) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- The discovery of a Middle Eocene (48.6-37.2 million years ago) sea cow fossil by McGill University professor Karen Samonds has culminated in the naming of a new species. This primitive "dugong" ...
Fossils on the Edge of Forever
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 14, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (12) |
0
Astrobiologists have not yet found alien life on other planets. But the fossil record has evidence of aliens of another sort: the Ediacarans that lived on Earth millions of years ago.
The mammoths' swan song revised
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 14, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (12) |
4
This is shown by samples of ancient DNA, analysed by an international team of research scientists under the leadership of Professor Eske Willerslev from Copenhagen University. Analyses of ancient DNA thereby ...
Bones of T. rex to make museum debut in Oregon
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 11, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
(AP) -- The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex will make its museum debut at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry along the banks of the Willamette River.
