Question

What are fossils explain it in detail

Answer 1

Fossils are the remains and traces of ancient organisms. A cluster of fossil ammonites, an extinct cephalopod.

fossil (latin for "obtained by digging") is the preserved remains or traces of organisms (plants, animals, etc) that lived in the distant past. The convention is that a fossil must predate recorded human history. While there is no defined date, typically something must be older than 10,000 years to be considered a fossil.

The oldest fossils in the fossil record date from 3.5 billion years ago, however it wasn't until around 600 million years ago that complex, multi-cellular life began was first preserved in the fossil record.

There are two main types of fossils; body and trace. Body fossils include the remains of organisms that were once living (bones, shells, teeth, eggs, etc), while trace fossils are the signs that organisms were once present (footprints, tracks, burrow, coprolites). Trace fossils represent a data source that reflects animal behaviors, and they do not require the preservation of hard body parts. Many traces date from significantly earlier than the body fossils of the animals suspected to have made them.

Fossilization of an organism requires a unique set of circumstances so that it doesn’t just decay without a trace. These conditions include:

1. Rapid and permanent burial/entombment

2. Lack of oxygen that limits decay and scavenging.

3. Continued sediment accumulation

4. The absence of heat or compression which might destroy the fossil

Fossils are most often preserved within sediments that were deposited in water, such as wetlands, river basins, or the ocean.

Answer 2

fossils are dead and decaying origanic materials which are either the dead parts of an animal or a plant. These materials further decay and form materials like petroleum...etc.