Carbon Film Fossils – Erakina

Fossils are the only proof that we live in a world that is full of wonders. Many scientists, archeologists, paleontologists, and geologists work on different fossils to identify past life. There are many types of fossils petrified fossils, trace fossils, mold&cast fossils, and carbon film fossils. Let’s see what is carbon film fossils and some facts about them. 

Fossils

A fossil was once a living organism that roamed the free world. But the death of the organism leaves the dead remains of its body. That dead remains are said to be fossils. The fossil remaining can be any living organism. With the help of fossils, scientists and archeologists can able to study the dead organism species, their body structure, and characteristics. This fossils study helps us to know what the past was like and what kind of living things were present at the time. These gathered fossils are kept in museums for people to display and duplicates model of fossils are made for university studies. 

Carbon Film Fossils 

Every living organism’s body is made up of atoms and molecules. Most atoms and molecules contain Carbon. This is the reason we are all called carbon-based life forms. When an organism is dead the combination of atom and molecules lose their formation and starts breaking down. The nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen in the organism go away in the process of carbonization. When the organism lies dead on rock the body will be buried under sediments of sand. When the time goes the sediment formation creates pressure, compression, and heat on the dead organism. This starts the carbonization process and the body starts to decay. The decaying finally leaves the carbon materials on the rock and these carbon materials form a replica of the dead organism like an exact film. This thin layer of carbon outline finally becomes a carbon film fossil. Most organisms like Crustaceans, fish, and leaves are collected as carbon film fossils. 

Sometimes the carbon film fossils can give more information for us to collect than expected. In China, scientists discovered an arthropod’s brain that is 500 million years ago. By this, we can able to know how life on earth changes and how we evolved. With these carbon film fossils, we can able to see the exact snapshot of organisms of the past.