Question

What are fossils? How are they formed?

Answer 1

Fossils can be defined as the remains of dead animals and plants that once lived on this earth in the remote past. Fossils are generally formed when lifeless organisms are not entirely decomposed by nature.

Complete answer: Fossils are the evidence of ancient life that was preserved by natural processes. From spectacular skeletons to tiny seashells are preserved by the nature.
Formation of fossils:
Fossils can be formed in different ways.
For example, when a plant or animal dies in a watery environment and then buried in mud and silt, the soft tissues quickly decompose by the decomposers present in that environment and it leaves the hard bones of the skeleton or shells.
As time goes on, sediment builds over the top of those skeletons and hardens into a rock.
It almost takes up to 10,000 years to make a fossil.

Additional information: We can measure the age of fossils by the following ways:
Relative method: By calculating the age of the layer of the earth’s crust where the fossil is found, we can measure the age of the fossils.
Radiocarbon dating method: By calculating the ratios of different isotopes of carbon that are present in the fossils, we can measure the age of the fossil.

Note: By analyzing the fossils, we can know:
1. The type of earth layers that were present at that time.
2. The type of animals and plants that were present on the earth.