Permineralization is a process of fossilization that occurs when an organism is buried. The empty spaces within an organism (spaces filled with liquid or gas during life) become filled with mineral-rich groundwater. Minerals precipitate from the groundwater, occupying the empty spaces. This process can occur in very small spaces, such as within the cell wall of a plant cell. Small scale permineralization can produce very detailed fossils. [13] For permineralization to occur, the organism must become covered by sediment soon after death, otherwise the remains are destroyed by scavengers or decomposition. [14] The degree to which the remains are decayed when covered determines the later details of the fossil. Some fossils consist only of skeletal remains or teeth; other fossils contain traces of skin, feathers or even soft tissues. [15] This is a form of diagenesis.

Ed Strauss (2001). "Petrified Wood from Western Washington". Archived from the original on 11 December 2010 . Retrieved 8 April 2011.Desmond, Adrian. "The Discovery of Marine Transgressions and the Explanation of Fossils in Antiquity", American Journal of Science, 1975, Volume 275: 692–707. The knowledge organiser also contains key information about what soil is and explains how fossils are formed. The different types of fossils are listed in a useful table.

How to Spot the Fossils Hiding in Plain Sight" by Jessica Leigh Hester, 23 February 2018, Atlas Obscura Noffke, Nora; Christian, Daniel; Wacey, David; Hazen, Robert M. (8 November 2013). "Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures Recording an Ancient Ecosystem in the ca. 3.48 Billion-Year-Old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia". Astrobiology. 13 (12): 1103–24. Bibcode: 2013AsBio..13.1103N. doi: 10.1089/ast.2013.1030. PMC 3870916. PMID 24205812.Stromatolites are a major constituent of the fossil record for life's first 3.5billion years, peaking about 1.25billion years ago. [56] They subsequently declined in abundance and diversity, [58] which by the start of the Cambrian had fallen to 20% of their peak. The most widely supported explanation is that stromatolite builders fell victims to grazing creatures (the Cambrian substrate revolution), implying that sufficiently complex organisms were common over 1billion years ago. [59] [60] [61] Types of Imaginary Creatures "Discovered" In Fossils". 19 May 2015. Archived from the original on 16 February 2019 . Retrieved 16 February 2019. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 11 January 2008 . Retrieved 17 June 2013. A fossil is the preserved evidence of an organism that lived in the distant past. Some fossils are formed from body parts, such as shells or bones. Others, such as preserved footprints, are from traces of an organism’s behaviors. Bressan, David. "July 18, 1635: Robert Hooke – The Last Virtuoso of Silly Science". Scientific American Blog Network. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018 . Retrieved 11 February 2018.

a b Needham, Joseph. (1959). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth. Cambridge University Press. pp. 603–618. a b Taylor, P. D. (1990). "Preservation of soft-bodied and other organisms by bioimmuration: A review". Palaeontology. 33: 1–17. A fossil (from Classical Latin fossilis, lit. 'obtained by digging') [1] is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. 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. Braddy, Simon J.; Gass, Kenneth C.; Tessler, Michael (4 September 2023). "Not the first leech: An unusual worm from the early Silurian of Wisconsin". Journal of Paleontology: 1–6. doi: 10.1017/jpa.2023.47. ISSN 0022-3360. S2CID 261535626. McNamara, Kenneth J. (2007). "Shepherds' crowns, fairy loaves and thunderstones: the mythology of fossil echinoids in England". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 273 (1): 279–294. Bibcode: 2007GSLSP.273..279M. doi: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2007.273.01.22. S2CID 129384807. Archived from the original on 21 February 2019 . Retrieved 16 February 2019.

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a b Grotzinger, John P. (24 January 2014). "Introduction to Special Issue – Habitability, Taphonomy, and the Search for Organic Carbon on Mars". Science. 343 (6169): 386–387. Bibcode: 2014Sci...343..386G. doi: 10.1126/science.1249944. PMID 24458635.

Early naturalists well understood the similarities and differences of living species leading Linnaeus to develop a hierarchical classification system still in use today. Darwin and his contemporaries first linked the hierarchical structure of the tree of life with the then very sparse fossil record. Darwin eloquently described a process of descent with modification, or evolution, whereby organisms either adapt to natural and changing environmental pressures, or they perish. a b Prothero, Donald R. (2007). Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters. Columbia University Press. pp. 50–53. ISBN 978-0-231-51142-1.

Herron, Scott; Freeman, Jon C. (2004). Evolutionary analysis (3rded.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. p.816. ISBN 978-0-13-101859-4. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023 . Retrieved 11 October 2018. Schweitzer MH, Zheng W, Cleland TP, Bern M (January 2013). "Molecular analyses of dinosaur osteocytes support the presence of endogenous molecules". Bone. 52 (1): 414–23. doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2012.10.010. PMID 23085295.