Fossilization

An animal dies and gets covered quickly by mud or sand.

• Death and Burial

• Decomposition and Mineralization

• Compaction and Cementation

• Uplift and Exposure

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

The soft parts of the dead animal rot away, while minerals from water replace its hard parts, turning them into rock.

• Death and Burial

• Decomposition and Mineralization

• Compaction and Cementation

• Uplift and Exposure

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Layers of mud or sand pile up on top, squeezing the buried animal remains together and turning them into solid rock.

• Death and Burial

• Decomposition and Mineralization:

• Compaction and Cementation

• Uplift and Exposure

Over millions of years, movements in the Earth's crust bring the fossil closer to the surface where erosion reveals it, and scientists can find and study it.

• Death and Burial

• Decomposition and Mineralization

• Compaction and Cementation

• Uplift and Exposure

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2