FOSSILISATION

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The Few, The Proud, The Fossilised

Derived from the Latin word fodere (to bury), the term fossilisation designates the process by which the remains of organisms are preserved in the geological record. These preserved remains are generally classified as either body fossils (e.g. bones, teeth, skin) or trace fossils (e.g. footprints, trackways, corpolites). Though, the idea of fossilisation as a selective and complex process may seem somewhat obvious (as the world would be literally blanketed in remains if fossilization was the rule rather than the exception), the rigorous set of filters through which a fossil must pass may not be as easily discernable. These filters include:

• morphological characteristics of the organism
  (the larger the organism and amount of hard tissue the better),
• location/geogical setting
  (preferably areas of continual sediment accumulation, such as lakes, lagoons, and deltas), and
• taphonomic constraints
  (amount of decay, transport, and diagenisis an organism experiences from its death util its recovery).