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Fossils are often formed by pseudomorphic replacement of the remains by mineral matter. Examples include petrified wood and pyritized gastropod shells. In biology, a pseudomorph is a cloud of mucus-rich ink released by many species of cephalopod. The name refers to the similarity in appearance between the cephalopod that released it and the ...
Tree remains that have undergone petrifaction, as seen in Petrified Forest National Park. In geology, petrifaction or petrification (from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra) 'rock, stone') is the process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with minerals.
Most fossils that have been silicified are bacteria, algae, [3] and other plant life. Silicification is the most common type of permineralization. Silicification is the most common type of permineralization.
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. Though the fossil record is incomplete, numerous studies have demonstrated that there is enough information available to give a good ...
Fossils of organisms' bodies are usually the most informative type of evidence. The most common types are wood, bones, and shells. [57] Fossilisation is a rare event, and most fossils are destroyed by erosion or metamorphism before they can be observed. Hence the fossil record is very incomplete, increasingly so further back in time.
Grains of sediment, rock fragments and fossils can be replaced by other minerals (e.g. calcite, siderite, pyrite or marcasite) during diagenesis. Porosity usually decreases during diagenesis, except in rare cases such as dissolution of minerals and dolomitization.
The replacement of fossils with chert, for example, is often fabric-preserving, while the replacement of aragonite and calcite with dolomite is fabric-destructive. On a side note, this particular process (the replacement of aragonite and calcite with dolomite) is the most common form of recrystallization by replacement.
In some silicified sedimentary rocks, fossils of diatoms are unearthed. This suggests that diatoms frustules were sources of silica for silicification. [ 13 ] Some examples are silicified limestones of Miocene Astoria Formation in Washington, silicified ignimbrite in El Tatio Geyser Field in Chile, and Tertiary siliceous sedimentary rocks in ...