1. What is the common sense of fossils?

Fossils are stones made from the remains or remains of creatures living in the distant past. In the long geological age, there have been countless creatures living on the earth, and many of their bodies after death or traces left over from their lives were buried by the sediment at that time. In the following years, the organic matter in the remains of these creatures was completely decomposed, and the hard parts such as shells, bones, branches and leaves were petrified into stones together with the surrounding sediments, but their original forms and structures (even some subtle internal structures) remained; Similarly, the traces left by those creatures when they live can be preserved in this way. We call these fossilized biological remains and remains fossils. From the fossils, we can see the appearance of ancient animals and plants, from which we can infer the living conditions and living environment of ancient animals and plants, infer the formation age and historical changes of the strata where fossils are buried, and see the changes of organisms from ancient times to the present.

Although whether an organism can form fossils depends on many factors, three factors are basic: (1) Organic matter must have hard parts, such as shells, bones, teeth or woody tissues. However, even very fragile creatures, such as insects or jellyfish, can become fossils under very favorable conditions. (2) Living things must avoid being destroyed immediately after death. If an organism's body parts are crushed, rotted or severely weathered, it may change or cancel the possibility of this organism becoming a fossil. (3) living things must be quickly buried by something that can hinder decomposition. The type of this buried material usually depends on the living environment of the organism. The remains of marine animals can usually become fossils, because marine animals sink to the bottom of the sea after death and are covered with mud. Mud turned into shale or limestone in later geological times. Fine-grained sediments are not easy to damage biological remains. In some fine-grained sedimentary rocks of Jurassic in Germany, the fossils of some fragile creatures such as birds, insects and jellyfish are well preserved.

2. All the knowledge about fossils

Classification of fossils: die casting of solid fossils, fossil remains, chemical fossils, and solid fossils are fossils formed by the preservation of all or part (especially the hardware part) of paleontological remains.

picture: /i? tn=baiduimage& ct=21326592& cl=2& lm=-1& word=%BB%AF%CA%AF& Z= fossil data: the traces of activities and relics of paleontology preserved in rock strata are called trace fossils.

The remains of paleontology can be turned into relic fossils. Fossil remains, relics and active remains of paleontology preserved in rock formations.

the word fossil comes from the Latin fossillis, which means digging. Fossil is the main research object of paleontology, which provides evidence for studying the life history of animals and plants in geological period.

Fossils have long been recorded in ancient books in China, such as Ji Ran in the Spring and Autumn Period and Wu Jin in the Three Kingdoms Period, all of which mentioned the "keel" produced in Shanxi Province, that is, the bones and teeth of ancient vertebrates; There is also a description of "stone fish" (that is, fish fossils) in Shan Hai Jing; There are descriptions of ancient insects in amber in Tao Hongjing during the Qi and Liang Dynasties in the Southern Dynasties. In Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo had a correct understanding of the origin of snail and clam fossils and Du Wan's fish fossils. So far, the earliest bacterial fossil found is the filamentous bacterial fossil in the Walla Onna Group in Australia 3.5 billion years ago.

Only a small part of the organisms in the geological history period were suitable for the geological environment and preserved as fossils: ① The organisms themselves must have certain hardware, such as shells and crustaceans of invertebrates, bones and teeth of vertebrates, trunks, leaves, spores and pollen of plants; (2) after the death of organisms, they must be quickly buried by sediments to avoid being destroyed by biological, mechanical or chemical actions; (3) must go through a long time of various petrochemical action. If the biological remains are buried in situ, it is easier to form complete fossils, such as a large number of intact animal and plant fossils preserved in the Miocene Shanwang Formation in Linqu, Shandong Province, China.

In another case, the dead remains of living things may be subjected to various handling actions. These fossils buried in different places are generally damaged to varying degrees, with good sorting degree and sometimes directional arrangement. The discipline that takes the burial of biological remains and remains and the formation process of fossils as the research object is called burial science.

types of preservation fossils can generally be divided into solid fossils, die-cast fossils, trace fossils and chemical fossils. (1) Entity fossils refer to fossils in which all or part of the remains of paleontology have been preserved, such as insect fossils in amber in tertiary coal seams in Fushun, China, which were preserved under tightly closed conditions.

The mammoths in the frozen soil of the Quaternary Ice Age in Siberia were completely preserved under the condition of severe cold and freezing. However, most fossils can only preserve the hard parts of living things, and have undergone obvious changes, that is, fossilization.

The volatile components (oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen) in the bones of chitin, chitosan-protein or protein disappear by ascending and descending, leaving only a carbonaceous film, which is also called carbonization. For example, graptolite and plant leaves are preserved by carbonization. The components of biological hardware are partially dissolved by groundwater and replaced by foreign minerals, which can preserve the fine structure of the original hardware, called metasomatism, such as silicified wood, and its annual rings and even the shape of plant cells can still be clearly seen.

② Die-cast fossils refer to the impressions and recasts left by biological remains in the bottom material, surrounding rocks and fillers. According to the relationship between fossils and their surrounding rocks, they can be divided into several types, such as imprint fossils, impression fossils, mold fossils and duplicate fossils.

③ Trace fossils refer to the traces and relics left on the surface or inside the sediment during the life activities of ancient organisms, such as the footprint fossils of vertebrates, the crawling fossils of vermicular animals, and the excrement fossils or egg fossils of animals. In a broad sense, trace fossils also include the labor tools and cultural relics of ancient people in the old artifacts era.

④ chemical fossils refer to the fact that although the remains of ancient organisms have not been preserved, the organic components that make up the organisms are decomposed to form various organic substances, such as amino acids and fatty acids, which can still remain in the rocks, which is enough to prove the existence of ancient organisms. This kind of fossil is called chemical fossil.

research significance from the end of 18th century to the beginning of 19th century, British W. Smith established the fossil sequence law based on the vertical distribution of fossils. This not only uses fossils to determine the stratigraphic age, but also provides evidence for biological evolution.

paleontologists have found that the higher the stratum level, the more fossil categories it contains, and the more complex the morphological structure of fossils, reflecting the evolutionary law of biological categories from less to more, morphological structure from simple to complex, and from low to high. The study of paleoecology of biological fossils is an important basis for reconstructing paleogeography and paleoclimate in geological history.

every living thing is the result of living in a certain environment and adapting to it. All kinds of creatures have the characteristics of reflecting environmental conditions in their habits, behaviors and body morphology.

Using these characteristics, we can infer the living environment of organisms, such as marine fossils, corals and foraminifera, which reflect the marine environment. The leaves, roots and insects of terrestrial plants reflect the continental environment. According to the study of the living environment and climatic conditions of various biological fossils in a geological period, we can infer the land and sea distribution, coastline position and the scope of lakes, rivers and swamps in that period.

the reconstruction of paleoenvironment and paleoclimate is very important for the understanding of geological history. In addition, the hard part of the organism can also form rock marks reflecting the paleoenvironment and paleoclimate, such as shell rocks reflecting the coastal environment, biological reefs reflecting the low-latitude warm sea environment, peat or coal reflecting the wet swamp environment and so on.

A large collection of fossil data also provides a basis for the systematic classification of paleontology. Modern creatures are ancient creatures that have gone through a long geological period.

3. Knowledge about fossils

Fossil remains of animals or plants in rocks. Usually, soft parts such as muscles or epidermis have been corroded before preservation, leaving only parts with greater resistance, such as bones or shells. They are then replaced by minerals from the surrounding sediments. Many fossils have also been flattened by the weight of the rocks covering them.

Fossil (pronunciation: huà shí) refers to the remains, relics or remains of ancient creatures buried underground and turned into things like stones. Studying fossils can understand the evolution of organisms and help determine the age of strata. The remains of ancient animals or plants preserved in rocks in the earth's crust or the evidence indicating the existence of remains are called fossils.

in a nutshell, fossils are stones made from the remains or remains of creatures living in the distant past. In the long geological age, there have been countless creatures living on the earth, and many of their bodies after death or traces left over from their lives were buried by the sediment at that time. In the following years, the organic matter in the remains of these creatures was completely decomposed, and the hard parts such as shells, bones, branches and leaves were petrified into stones together with the surrounding sediments, but their original forms and structures (even some subtle internal structures) remained; Similarly, the traces left by those creatures when they live can be preserved in this way. We call these fossilized biological remains and remains fossils. From fossils, we can see the appearance of ancient animals and plants, from which we can infer the living conditions and living environment of ancient animals and plants, infer the formation age and historical changes of the strata where fossils are buried, and see the changes of organisms from ancient times to the present, etc.

4. Knowledge of fossils

The definition of fossils comes from the Latin fossil, which means "excavated".

refers to the fact that the remains of animals or plants have not rotted for a long time and become a part of the earth's crust. Fossils may be the remains of living things preserved directly, or left molds in sedimentary rocks, or traces left by survival (called scar fossils).

The emergence of chemical fossilization needs to be buried quickly, and then chemical transformation takes place, and minerals are added or discharged from the organism. Without this effect, the organism will only remain temporarily, but it will not become a fossil.

the formation of fossils there are many kinds of ancient creatures, but not all ancient creatures can be preserved and turned into fossils. Generally speaking, there are two situations that make it easier to form fossils: first, after a living thing dies, it is covered and protected by something like mud, so as to avoid being destroyed or being used as food by other animals.

Secondly, the organism itself has a hard part, because the software part is easy to decompose into epidermis and muscle and cannot be preserved, while the hardware part, like bones or shells of clams and shellfish, is easy to preserve and may become fossils. These two situations are only the conditions for the formation of fossils, and they may not all form fossils, because sometimes when fossils are formed, they will be destroyed when volcanoes erupt, hot magma is ejected, or the crust changes.

The types of fossils are different because they are preserved in different ways, so we can divide them into five different types: the first type: fossils preserved in the original; The second type: fossils formed by exchange; The third kind: carbonized fossils; The fourth kind: fossils of patterns and types; The fifth type: fossils of the way animals live (also known as scar fossils).

5. knowledge about "fossils"

fossils are the remains of animals or plants that have not rotted for a long time and become part of the earth's crust after several years. The organism itself is well preserved, or the impression in sedimentary rocks, or the traces left by its existence (called trace fossils). Fossils, usually animals and plants, are quickly buried by water-containing sediments after they die, resulting in chemical reactions, and then minerals, people or organisms are discharged. If this procedure does not happen, the organic experience will be temporarily preserved, but it will not become a stone. The word fossil comes from the Latin fossillis, which means to dig. Fossil is the main research object of paleontology, which provides evidence for studying the life history of animals and plants in geological period. There are already records of fossils in ancient books in China, such as Ji Ran in the Spring and Autumn Period and Wu Jin in the Three Kingdoms Period, which all mentioned the "keel" produced in Shanxi Province, that is, the bones and teeth of ancient vertebrates; There is also a description of "stone fish" (that is, fish fossils) in Shan Hai Jing; There are descriptions of ancient insects in amber in Tao Hongjing during the Qi and Liang Dynasties in the Southern Dynasties. In Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo had a correct understanding of the origin of snail and clam fossils and Du Wan's fish fossils. So far, the earliest bacterial fossil found is the filamentous bacterial fossil in the Walla Onna Group in Australia 3.5 billion years ago.

Only a small part of the organisms in the geological history period were suitable for the geological environment and preserved as fossils: ① The organisms themselves must have certain hardware, such as shells and crustaceans of invertebrates, bones and teeth of vertebrates, trunks, leaves, spores and pollen of plants; (2) after the death of organisms, they must be quickly buried by sediments to avoid being destroyed by biological, mechanical or chemical actions; (3) must go through a long time of various petrochemical action. If the biological remains are buried in situ, it is easier to form complete fossils, such as a large number of intact animal and plant fossils preserved in the Miocene Shanwang Formation in Linqu, Shandong Province, China. On the other hand, the dead remains of living things may be subjected to various handling actions. These fossils buried in different places are generally damaged to varying degrees, with good sorting degree and sometimes directional arrangement. The discipline that takes the burial of biological remains and remains and the formation process of fossils as the research object is called burial science.

types of preservation fossils can generally be divided into solid fossils, die-cast fossils, trace fossils and chemical fossils. (1) Entity fossils refer to fossils in which all or part of the remains of paleontology have been preserved, such as insect fossils in amber in tertiary coal seams in Fushun, China, which were preserved under tightly closed conditions. Mammoths in the frozen soil of the Quaternary Ice Age in Siberia were completely preserved under the condition of severe cold and freezing. However, most fossils can only preserve the hard parts of living things, and have undergone obvious changes, that is, fossilization. The volatile components (oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen) in the bones of chitin, chitosan-protein or protein disappear by ascending and descending, leaving only a carbonaceous film, which is also called carbonization. For example, graptolite and plant leaves are preserved by carbonization. The components of biological hardware are partially dissolved by groundwater and replaced by foreign minerals, which can preserve the fine structure of the original hardware, called metasomatism, such as silicified wood, and its annual rings and even the shape of plant cells can still be clearly seen. ② Die-cast fossils refer to the impressions and recasts left by biological remains in the bottom material, surrounding rocks and fillers. According to the relationship between fossils and their surrounding rocks, they can be divided into several types, such as imprint fossils, impression fossils, mold fossils and duplicate fossils. (3) Trace fossils refer to the traces and relics left on the surface or inside the sediment during the life activities of ancient creatures, such as the footprint fossils of vertebrates, the crawling fossils of reptiles and the excreta or egg fossils of animals. In a broad sense, trace fossils also include those of ancient humans in the old artifacts era.