The Enchanted Learning’s dinosaur fossil page divides types of fossils into two categories, fossilized body parts and trace fossils. The University of California’s Museum of Paleontology has further classified types of fossils, based on the processes available, for a fossil to form. These diverse and distinct classifications are as follows:
∑ Compactions: organic substance preserved with a reduction in size
∑ Molecular: organic substance is present but the organism’s physical structure is not present.
∑ Permineraliation: organic substance decay and minerals fill into the organism’s form.
∑ Compression: organic substance of organism is retained when compressed under pressure for lengthy time.
∑ Casts & Molds: sediment fills cavities of organism and leaves 3-D remnant.
∑ Impressions: imprint of organism without the presence of organic substance.
∑ Trace Fossils: impressions of movement over a surface (i.e. footprints).
∑ Coprolites & Gastroliths: remains of meals that were indigestible.
∑ Amber: entire organism structure encased in hardened sap of tree, preserving entire specimen intact.
∑ Drying & Desiccation: entire organism structure that has