How are fossils formed ? Describe in breif two methods of determined the age of fossils
Answers
When the dead body of an organism gets caught in mud, the mud retains the impression of the organism or its body parts. All such preserved traces are known as fossils.
for e.g..There were some aquatic animals living in the sea. When they died their bodies were suppressed in the sea bed and got covered by mud. Later dinosaurs living in the area died and their bodies got buried under mud. After few years horse like creatures died whose bodies also got buried. After millions of years the soil was eroded exposing the fossils of horse like creatures. If we go on digging we would find the earlier fossils. This is how fossils are formed layer by layer.
One method to determine age of fossils is digging.If we go on digging it is reasonable to think that the fossils on the surface of the earth are more recent ones than the deeper ones. Another is carbon dating which is to compare the isotopes of the same element the fossils.