GEOL 008 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Anchiornis, Trace Fossil, Permineralization
Document Summary
Natural biases: factors a ecting what organisms make into rocks. Need to be the right type of organism (hard parts) Less likely to decompose or get eaten. So there"s a bias in what shows up! Need uncommon set of conditions (rapid burial, low oxygen, ne sediment) Easy to bury a clam; harder to bury a sh; even harder to bury a triceratops. Population factors: more small animals than big ones. Also, factors a ecting what fossils are kept . Majority of fossils will always be inaccessible. Limitations in number of paleontologists and in funding 4335$ Body fossil: the remains of an organism. Trace fossil: the remains of an organism or the activity of an organism . Tells us speed, weight, who eats what, do they travel in packs. I. e: signs of an animal feeding on life. Holes in animal, trying to eat it. Tells us what the animal has eaten.
