Fossils are COOL!

1. Types of
Fossils
Different kinds of fossils are
created different ways!
• Preserved organisms
• Mineral replacement
• Impression fossils

2. What is a preserved organism?
• Fossils frozen in time
• The soft body parts are preserved
as well as the hard parts
• Decay of the plant or animal is
minimal
How do we preserve things in our
homes?

3. Preserved Organisms

4. Mineral Replacement
• Hard parts of an animal decay slowly- like bones,
and claws
• when animal is buried water seeps through the
ground, through the bone.
• The seeping water dissolves the bone, and
minerals in the water replace the bone one cell at
a time.
• This eventually becomes stone.

5. When mineral replacement occurs it is
also called petrification

6. Mineral Replacement
The Utahraptor found at Dalton
Wells Quarry in east-central Utah,
near Moab!
The minerals that petrified this ammonite
fossil are all different and make it different
colors.

7. Impression Fossils
• These fossils can show detailed outlines of
organisms like thin plants or small animals,
which die in sediment.
• As they decay, they leave a carbon deposit
that shows as a dark print of the organism
• Impression fossils also include tracks

8. Impression Fossils
Dinosaur footprint in
sandstone found in
UTAH!
Trilobite Impression fossil. See how it is 3
dimensional? Can you tell the fossil is
darker then the gray stone?