Flashcards
Preservation styles
Cards in this deck (13)
- 1Original soft partsRare:
Baby Mammoth
Mammoth hair
Bug in amber - 2Fossils that are aliveExtremely Rare:
Gut bacteria from Mastadon - 3Altered soft partsRare (but more common than original soft parts)
Mineralized, flattened or 3-d fossil
(lithified millipede) - 4CarbonizationBlack, flattened, carbon-rich films
Usually leaves - 5Original hard partsUncommon:
Usually geologically young shells or bones - 6Altered hard part (Recrystallization(- The crystal structure of the hard parts has changed but not the mineral
- expect loss of detail
-(shell, nothing, imprint of shell with same mineral) - 7Altered hard part (Replacement)The crystal structure and the mineral of the hard parts have changed.
- 8What are the common types of minerals that occur with replacement?Pyritization - pyrite
Silicification - Quartz
Phosphatization - Apatite
Opalization - extremely rare opal - 9Altered hard part (Permineralization)Porous wood or bone gets filled with minerals by ground-water percolating through. (petrified) (can be radioactive > yellow > carnotite)
- 10Altered hard part (Dissolution and impression Mold)Hard parts dissolve away and just an imprint is left
- 11Altered hard part (External vs internal mold)External: Impression of the outside portions of shells or skeletons.
Internal: Impressions of the inside portions of shells or skeletons (beef heart [ no special details usually]) - 12Altered hard part (casts)Sediments fill the space where an organism used to be.
Ex. Fossil tree trunks. - 13What are the oldest still-living organisms?Late Precambrian halobacteria