Things You'll Need:
- Organism to fossilize (such as a dead starfish)
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Step 1
Bury the remains of an organism quickly after it dies. They must survive the initial attack of organisms and the environment to become fossils. Ideally, the remains of an organism should be covered by sediment to provide a low-oxygen environment.
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Step 2
Use catastrophic burials from floods and mudslides to cause the fossilization of delicate animals. Organisms such as starfish will disarticulate within a few days and must therefore be buried rapidly in order to fossilize in their entirety.
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Step 3
Replace the organism's body with a more permanent material. Marine invertebrates are a common source of fossils because they have shells composed of calcium carbonate. When the calcium carbonate dissolves, it leaves a mold which may be replaced with minerals such as silica or pyrite.
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Step 4
Preserve soft tissue with a low temperature to greatly slow the rate of decay. This can occur when a carcass is covered by ice. However, this method is unlikely to preserve tissue for extremely long periods of time since the body will begin to decay rapidly once it's uncovered.
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Step 5
Make fossils with an anaerobic environment. Most of the bacteria responsible for decomposition require oxygen, so this is another possible method for creating fossils. Common examples of this type of preservation include tar pits and peat bogs.
