Question

What are the different types of fossils ?

Answer 1

Hint: The traces of ancient life that have been preserved by nature can be termed as Fossils. The examples of fossils include bones, exoskeletons, tenants, stone imprints of animals, coal etc.

Complete answer:
Fossils are categorised into five different types: body fossils, molecular fossils, trace fossils, carbon fossils, and pseudo fossils.
1. Body fossils: These fossils are remains of an animal or plant such as their bones, shells, and leaves. The hard skeleton such as shell or bone is comparatively easier to preserve than the soft tissues such as skin, muscle, organs, etc or weak animal skeletons like that of a shrimp or an insect. Body fossils include mold and cast. A mold can be described as an impression left on the shell by the rock surrounded by the shell . Molds are further divisible into two categories : external and internal molds. Casts are described as the replicas of the shell or bone that are formed from external or internal molds. These can be produced naturally and artificially from molds composed of latex rubber or modeling clay.
2. Molecular Fossils are considered as biomarkers or biosignatures .The products of cellular biosynthesis get incorporated into sediments and then finally into a rock and these are described as molecular fossils. Few of them can be observed to be stable for billions of years.
3. Trace Fossils can be described as traces left by an animal or plant that has made an impression such as nests, footprints or any other markings representing their time on the earth. The bodily structure of organisms or plants remains as a mineral form.
4. Carbon Fossils: A common element that all living things contain is carbon. Whenever an organism dies and is buried in sediment, carbon remains whereas other materials that make the organism get break down. The remaining form of the small amount of carbon can be useful in observing an organism’s delicate parts like leaves or plants such as a 300 million years old fern fossil.
5. Pseudofossils are considered as neither plants nor animals as these are the watery solutions of various minerals that take the shape of a plant part or animal.

Note:
Taphonomy can be described as the study of the different stages of transformation that lead to fossilization and impact of environmental factors during this process of change. Paleoanthropology can be described as the study of fossils of humans of early time period and their ancestors. Osteology can be described as the study that includes scientific approach to analyse structure of bones, skeletal elements and microbone morphology.