What is a fossil? Fossils are the preserved remains of plants and animals whose bodies were buried in sediments, such as sand and mud, under ancient seas, lakes and rivers. Fossils also include any preserved trace of life that is typically more than 10 000 years old.
What is a rock with a fossil in it called?
There are three main types of rock: igneous rock, metamorphic rock, and sedimentary rock. Almost all fossils are preserved in sedimentary rock. Mudstone, shale, and limestone are examples of sedimentary rock likely to contain fossils.
What is called fossil?
Fossil, remnant, impression, or trace of an animal or plant of a past geologic age that has been preserved in Earths crust. The complex of data recorded in fossils worldwide—known as the fossil record—is the primary source of information about the history of life on Earth.
Fossils are formed in different ways, but most are formed when a plant or animal dies in a watery environment and is buried in mud and silt. Soft tissues quickly decompose leaving the hard bones or shells behind. Over time sediment builds over the top and hardens into rock.
How old is fossil fuel?
Such organisms and their resulting fossil fuels typically have an age of millions of years, and sometimes more than 650 million years. Fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon and include petroleum, coal, and natural gas. Commonly-used derivatives of fossil fuels include kerosene and propane.
There are many ways fossils can be formed including permineralization, freezing, compression, and entrapment by amber. (See informational links.) Methods of fossilization often involve rapid burial in such a way that predators and erosional effects are eliminated.
Can humans turn into fossil fuels?
Humans are animals; were made up of the same chemicals as those animals which decomposed into what we now call fossil fuels. So, yes, our remains could become oil in the far distant future.