1. Fossils are evidence of biological evolution and an important clue to the study of ancient creatures. By studying fossils, we can gradually understand the form, structure and category of organisms in the distant past, infer the origin, evolution and development process of organisms for hundreds of millions of years, and restore the earth's ecological environment at various stages in the long geological history.
2. Fossils are the remains, relics or remains of ancient creatures preserved in rocks, most commonly bones and shells.
Fossils are the remains, relics or remains of ancient creatures preserved in rocks, and the most common ones are bones and shells. According to etymology, 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. There have been 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, all of which mentioned the "keel" produced in Shaanxi, that is, the bones and teeth of ancient vertebrates;
In the long geological age, countless creatures lived on the earth, and many of their dead bodies or traces left by life were buried by the sediment at that time.
In the following years, the organic matter in these biological remains was almost decomposed (dài), and the hard parts such as shells, bones, branches and leaves were petrified into stones together with the surrounding sediments, but their original shapes and structures (even some subtle internal structures) were preserved.
Similarly, the traces left by those creatures in their lives can be preserved in this way. We call these fossilized biological remains and remains fossils, which generally take at least several hundred million years to form.
Simply put, fossils are "stones" made from the remains or remains of creatures living in the distant past. Many of them were buried in the mud at that time. In the following years, the organic matter in these biological remains was completely decomposed;
Similarly, the traces left by those creatures when they are alive can be preserved in this way. We call these fossils 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 biological changes from ancient times to the present.
Because fossils in older rocks are usually primitive and simple, fossils of similar species in newer rocks are complex and advanced.